Sunrise
by Kurogamine-The Light Shadow
Summary: Kise Ryouta, the shining sun of GoM and the always smiling and lively ace of Kaijo isn't smiling anymore. Why? Simple. He had brought all his family members together after 3 years and convinced them to go to a trip by car. But an accident happens and he loses his family and his ability to walk. Now he burdens all the blame on himself. Will anyone be able to return his smile?...
1. Chapter 1

A sunset.

Shining eyes that no one could look away from, warm words that soothed and encouraged every one, bright smiles that blinded the ones around, annoying noises that made every single human alive, golden hair that flamed freely on the pale and smooth skin,

All gone. They were all gone. Because the sun had set. And they didn't know when it will rise again. They didn't know when they could feel its warm rays again.

It was today, maybe around morning? around noon? They didn't even remember clearly. But they could still feel his warmth in their beings. Maybe because he was really like the sun. Every where in their lives.

And still they felt the last time they had with him was so far ago. Probably because he had always been close, yet far from their reach.

 ** _Just_** like the sun.

Kise had contacted all of them today, by text messages or phone calls. This time, this morning his flames seemed to be more hot and burning than all the times before. The ones who had been texted to, couldn't see his face, nor could they hear his voice. But they all could see him smiling stupidly while sending them the message. It was as clear as the sun light. It wasn't seen. It wasn't heard. just **_felt._**

Yes. He could remember his cheerful voice that was almost screaming _"KUROKOCCHIIIIIII!"_ on the other side of the line. But now, he regretted keeping his phone away from his ear to not to get deaf by the super loud voice of the blond. He regretted for not hearing more of that sun's voice, not seeing more of his face, not spending more time with him and having more of his warmth.

He remembered it when his phone rang, showing _'Kise-Kun'_ on its screen.

 _"Waaah Kurokocchiiiii! Finally! I managed to bring them all together! We're gonna go to a trip all together! Can you believe it?! ALL TOGETHER!"_

 _"You're too loud, Kise-kun. And it's great, by the way."_

 _"I can't believe it! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I convinced my sisters to agree to going to the trip by dad's car! Onee-chan was complaining and kept saying that I'm not the little kid I used to be and my ass has grown too much and the three of us can't sit together in the car! But I finally got to convince her! And mom kept telling that she can't believe that she cancelled all her meetings just because I forced her to come with us to the trip!"_

 _"I'm happy for you Kise-kun."_

 _"I'm happy too! Indeed, Kurokocchi, I'm getting insane! Oh, sorry, Kurokocchi! I need to go pack my things! Onee-san's gonna kick me if I'll be late!"_

 _"Right, you shouldn't be late for the trip that you yourself has settled."_

 _"You have a point! I'LL MISS YOU A LOT KUROKOCCHIIII!"_

 _"Kise-kun please don't shout. And have a safe trip."_

 _"Thanks! Bye Bye!" ..._

It was still fresh in his mind. As alive as a real conversation could be. It was nearly in the morning, but it somehow felt nostalgic.

It had been a long time, almost three years since the Kise family had gathered up to spend their time together. And within the last six months, the youngest child, the son of the family Ryouta had been trying to bring them back to each other. Because no matter how much he had grown up to be independent, he still couldn't accept that the family members had their own private lives and that they had no time to spend with each other any longer.

Kise was sixteen, and he had started his new adult life and had his own career. But the meaning of family hadn't changed to him. To him, family was what he could always refere to, be sheltered in, and share his happiness and sadnesses with. So he hadn't given up on his belief when his mother's presence started to get lighter and lighter in their house. Or when his father could no longer come home most of the nights due to the pressure on his company. Or when his older sister left to live with his boyfriend and start her new job. Or not even when his second older sister that had a less age-difference with him and he used to hang out with her more, left their house to attend in a college in Kyoto.

He found himself alone at their big house and had no other choices but to move himself up and leave the vacant house to a new apartment. Not that he liked smaller places, it was just that he couldn't tolerate how the emptiness of the big house sarcastically reminded him of his loneliness and how missed the times all of his family members spent together.

Being the Kise Ryouta he was, he had showed that he would not give up on his values and will fight for them, as he showed that in the Winter Cup in their match against Shougo-kun. Basketball was one of the things he loved and valued to no ends, and Shougo-kun seemed to be playing with it.

Alright, he _was_ on the verge of getting defeated and crushed.

He let Shougo-kun humiliate him, and his _basketball._ But that didn't mean that he was going to let that happen again and let his valued basketball be insulted by the violent guy again. It was all because he had doubted himself and his abilities a bit. And that 'a bit' was apparently enough for Haiizaki guy to pierce his claws into his confident and scratch it painfully.

In that time, he wasn't the only one shining in the gymnasium. He was the sun on the court, but there was another strong light coming from the viewers,

probably,

no, **_definitely_**

from where the Seirin members were sitting. And to be exact, the strong light that was almost as blinding as his, belonged to a certain red head that sat beside his former blue-haired teammate. It was this strange shiner with that even stranger double colored hair that reminded him who he was, The ace of Kaijou, Kise Ryouta, The _shining sun on the court_. He could never realize how that guy's light had strengthened his.

' _It doesn't have any thing to do with Physics I learned at school!'_ was what he always said to himself when ever his mind got tired of the intensive amount of thoughts that carried probabilities and conjectures. _'It's Kagamicchi after all!'_ He came to conclude each time.

This time, it was about his family, the family that once had been so warm, and Kise believed he had saved up his warmth from there. He couldn't let it go now. Even if the other members didn't understand him or what he believed. He tried. It wasn't that simple though. But all his attempts finally came to fruit. And the fruit was tasted really sweet to him. The result was the family trip they were going to take which he had informed every one about it, _this morning._ He seemed so happy, so alive, so safe, so _healthy._

And here they were now. The five of them. Standing in the waiting hall. Akashi was the one who had told them all about it. And here they were now. In the Tokyo Central Hospital...

A tall man with a white uniform came out of the surgery room. He was probably on of the surgeon who had operated one of _them,_ one of the _Kises._

Akashi walked to him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be the first one to hear about their conditions, specially with the four pair of eyes that were moving awkwardly between him and the surgeon. But the responsibility he still felt towards his former teammates made him to. Made him to walk to the doctor and suffer hearing the news. He hoped the news were going to be good, telling them that the whole family had passed the dangerous point and that they were now all safe. But he couldn't be a dreamer. He needed to be realistic and face the reality.

 _' **Damn the reality!** '_ He screamed in his mind. It was time for the doctor to explain.

"What is your relationship with them?" The doctor said, with a little crack in his voice. If they had been all deafs through their lives, the crack in the doctor's voice now seemed as audible as a sharp shout to them.

"We're... friends." He almost choked. His head came lower and his eyes fell on one of the buttons of the doctor's uniform. He wasn't being himself, and every one was observing that. No, no one could call the way his head moved lower an instinctive act that any one in his situation would do. He was't every one. He was _Akashi._ And right now the great Akashi Seijouro was cursing for ever being born in the Akashi family. He was cursing the universe for leading _him_ to such a situation. He wanted to back up. To run away. And to lose his memory and never hear about the story of " _The happy blond who once decided to bring his family members back together and go a trip with them the way they some times went to short trips by his dad's car when he was a young kid, but ended up in a horrible car accident and..."_

 _And?..._

What was going to happen next? Akashi was supposed to want to run away and forget every thing, but he was already pleading to know how the story would end. He was begging for a good ending. And maybe that made him stay, and do what ever it brought him to settle every thing to a good ending. Just how stupid could he be? He neededto _create_ a good ending. Even if the fate was going against him, he would fight with it. He would take his life on it, money was just shit.

The doctor sighed. Oh no... _Oh no..._ another bad sign...

"I'm sorry," He whispered. What was with him?! It was like he had lost his friend! Akashi felt like punching the poor man right now. This lowlife doc didn't understand. He couldn't understand. He hadn't been the one to suffer all those worries. He hadn't been the one to be dead worried. He couldn't understand how it felt to have a very dear friend under the hands of surgeons. The only thing he had to do was to put his life in order to not to let his patients pass away in the surgery room. And he didn't even tried his best for that. This was making the red haired go insane.

"What do you MEAN!" His hands curled into fists.

The surgeon's eyes went round. He gulped.

"Akashi!" Aomine could always recognize these kind of situations. The times when blood could make a man's eyes blind and make him act like a wild beast. He stepped towards the pair, but froze when two other men with white uniforms and one with glasses came out of the surgery room.

All eyes turned on them. They'd better have good news, or Akashi would swear to beat their souls out of their bodies. The men stopped almost a step away from Akashi, the one standing closer, adjusted his glasses.

"Akashi-san," He sarted. "We did all we could do."

No, that was not what Akashi wanted to hear, and the man had made a big mistake. A _big_ mistake, in the _worst_ time.

Akashi's body loosened, and that wasn't a good sign. His locks were covering his eyes, as to lead every one to think that he was at the verge of explosion. Not that he would react hot-headed like Aomine, it was even worse, scarier. Only his piercing gaze could melt a human being, let alone his... scissors... His head rose, revealing the deepest and most scary frown any one had ever seen in his face.

"B-but..." The other man started. "We managed to save one of them!"  
All the attention was now on the new speaking man, including Aomine. He didn't exactly know what was going on. After seeing Akashi's text message about the accident, Tetsu had called him to ask whether he had received Akashi's message. He was confused. Really confused. All of that looked just unbelievable to him. He was in the hospital, but that didn't mean that he was aware of what was going on.

Akashi wasn't a joker, the message that he had sent to him seemed real enough, and the call from Tetsu made sense.

And now he was standing in the waiting hall of the Tokyo Central Hospital. Ksie had called him in the morning, probably around eight, he didn't know. He was just annoyed because the blond had disturbed his morning nap. He hadn't even bothered to look who was calling him. All he did was to answer the call and let out the nastiest and dirtiest word he had in his mind. But he had jumped up fully awake when the blond on the other side of the line had shouted crazily saying some nonsense about his family and a trip by car and whatever that Aomine was to annoyed to bother to listen or even hear. Kise... His family... A trip by car... Akashi's message seven hours later... A car accident... The hospital... The surgeon's expressions... There were no missing pieces of the puzzle that Aomine's mind had been trying to do, but it was now too tired to put them all together. Or no, was too _afraid_ to put them together. but every thing was too damned for Aomine Daiki or his non-used brain too escape the truth.

His brain had stopped, giving up against its self. The pieces of puzzle now seemed to be finding their places in his mind by themselves.

It wasn't Aomine's will anymore. The puzzle had _chosen_ to show him the reality. And now, the puzzle was done, and Aomine was trying his best not to shiver. He was the master of his body all that time and his whole being now seemed to be fighting against him. Every thing made sense now.

 _"But we managed to save one of them!" ... "To save one of them!"... "One of them!"... " **One of...** "_

Aomine gulped. The last thing he wanted was to feel sick in his stomach. One of them jad survived. That meant that all of the others were dead. Like... really _dead..._

"Which one?..." His own voice surprised him. The surgeons looked at him. They could see that the will of murdering in his eyes wasn't any better that Akashi's. The taller man adjusted his glasses again.

"I SAID WHICH ONE!"

"Aomine-kun!" A hand gripped his wrist tightly. He hardly looked back to see Tetsu's teary eyes.

Just to make sure nothing awful was going to happen, Midorima and Murasakibara walked closer to them to immediately stop any incoming attacks. It was weird of Aomine. First acting maturely and walking to Akashi so then he could stop him if he tried to use his scissors and now acting worse than a beast.

"W-well..." The shorter one mumbled.

"Spit it out now, man!" Aomine tried to raise his hand, but found it locked in Tutsu's strangely hard grip.

"It's the... the y-younger male... probably the son..."...

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 **A/N: I need your feedback. Please let me know your ideas.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the supports and follows and faves.**

 **I'm sorry for the grammar mistakes you'll find in the story. English is not my first language, so please go easy on me!**

 **I hope you'll enjoy.**

 **I don't own the cover image.**

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"It's the... the y-younger male... probably the son..."

The young men released the air they had been holding in their lungs without knowledge. It was probably a _sigh in relief._ But no one could deny that there in the bottom of their chests they felt something burning in guilt and worry.

Kise was alive. Rather, _Ryouta_ was alive. And all his family members, the ones who he had tried so much to bring back together, had left him alone once again. They didn't know how they were supposed to feel;

Happy?... Not a bit.

Relieved?... Not sure.

Concerned?... They already were.

 _Mournful?..._ That sounded right...

All what their minds had craved til now, was to know if Kise was alive. No one had thought how they were going to deal with a Kise that had lost his whole family.

There in the trash bin, there was a big bag of snacks and candies. The bars of chocolate and the bags of snack weren't even open, meaning that the owner didn't even try to eat any of them. The amount of the snacks didn't seem to match the amount that a kid who likes junk food eats. And with the fact that other than the surgeons there were five people standing in the waiting hall, it was concluded that they belonged to one of the young men. It _did_ belong to one of them, a giant one standing behind the others with his hands in fists. Who could believe that Murasakibara Atsushi would throw away a full bag of luscious snacks because he was too nervous to even carry it with him? Well, he did now. Kise-chin was alive, and he knew that. He bit his lower lip. _'Kise-chin is alive...'_ He had repeated in his mind a thousand times. But what had made him want to go somewhere to be alone and cry out like a baby was why it had to be Kise-chin. Why did it have to happen to some one that was so much attached to his family. And how they were going to tell Kise-chin that his family was... gone...

He couldn't imagine a life without his mom, his siblings, his dad even. His mom who always prepared him the most delicious meals, who called him first to the kitchen, who never complained about the great amount of food he ate, who never told him to stop eating sweets, who never scolded him when he lost again Kuro-chin, and who told him that she would count on him to take care of his younger siblings and that she will always love him and be proud of him even when his dad told him to stop acting like a kid.

He could never think of a life that his mom wasn't in it.

Life without his younger siblings wasn't tolerable as well. His siblings were always noisy, well, except his youngest brother who he liked the most. It would be too silent if the twin wouldn't suddenly broke in his bedroom, jump on his bed with the girl on the right and the boy on the left side of him and ask him to share his sweets with them. They sometimes could be really annoying, but he still wanted them to be. To be in his life and never leave. And his youngest brother, his favorite, who was about a couple of inches shorter than him. He didn't know how to play basketball but was good in soccer and Murasakibara despite not really being interested in soccer enjoyed playing with him. They would talk about many things that people called childish, and Murasakibara would sometimes share his snacks with him voluntarily.

He never wanted a life without his siblings.

And his dad. Who always advised him even for the smallest mistakes he made. His dad and him didn't really get along, but still he needed his dad. Because he knew his mom loved him, so he would love him, and would never want him to leave his life.

So... How was Kise-chin going to live a life without all of those people? The people who cared about him and loved him. Yeah he remembered Kise-chin complaining about how his mom usually rejected his phone calls because she was in a meeting, but he did say that she always called back when she was done with the meeting. He remembered him saying that he never got to talk with her favorite sister since she had left to study in a college in Kyoto, and that she always ended the phone calls because she had classes or studies, but he had also said that she often called him late at night to have a short chat with him and ask him whether everything was alright. He still remembered him saying that he missed the last birthday party his family had set for him and how he wanted to have another family birthday party again, but he also said that his family members never missed to know his favorite gifts and sent him birthday presents each year since then.

Kise-chin's family members rarely had time to spend with each other, but they still were his family. And just when he had succeeded to convince them to have a trip like before when they were kids, the car accident had destroyed everything... It had turned everything to ash, the way no one could mend it...

"How ever," One of the surgeons dared to talk again.

"He's having major injuries and his body will need time to heal them, so, considering the advantages his athletic body may have, it'll have to save its energy as much as it can, means that he will not wake up in three or four days..."

So... That meant that at the end he _will_ wake up.

Midorima's grip around his lucky item -A miniature figurine of a singing angel- loosened. His head fell, his free hand raised, but instead of adjusting his glasses he took it off. He could have never imagined himself worrying over some one he was sure will never have any role in his life. Not just that, he thought of Kise as the most annoying blond he had ever seen in his life. So why had his hands started trembling when he read Akashi's message about him? Why had his lucky item fell from his left hand? Why had he felt like vomiting?

That meant that things weren't going on as he had been thinking. Kise didn't have the role of an unimportant and annoying trash in his life, he was more. Enough to make Midorima lose his balance and lean to Takao when he read the message. Enough to make him leave the practice and rush to the hospital.

"I'm sorry, misters, but you can't stay in this part of the hospital." The doctor with the glasses said firmly, and they knew they couldn't resist against it. Akashi was now standing as himself again, straight and steady. "Alright," He said, and looked back to his former teammates intimately.

The big door they had been staring at before the surgeons came out of it, opened with a 'click'. Every one knew what was going to come next. They stared at it as it opened wider and wider. Once again, they were holding their breaths without knowing. They didn't know whether they should look or not, they didn't even know whether they could look or not. No one could tolerate watching a lightless sun covered with injuries and wounds. The nurses pushed the wheeled-bed out, and before the now incomplete generation of miracles could find something other than the bed to stick their sights to, it was moving in front of them toward the elevator. _There he was..._

He was lying there, soundless, lifeless. His skin looked paler and more vulnerable than always. It was obvious that he had lost much blood. His head was bandaged, _frighteningly._ Many small or big red and fresh scratches were visible on his face, and his neck was supported with a kind of protector. His body was covered by a white sheet up to his chest. Not much from his body could be seen, but still they could realize the treatments related to his broken ribs. Something that looked like a tube was in his mouth, probably to help him breathe, they had no idea of how deep it had gone in his mouth, maybe til his injured lungs. There were perfusions connected to a vessel containing blood that a nurse was carrying, and their other end was somewhere under the sheets. There were other things that were stuck on his bare chest in one end, and went from his body to the electronic device attached to the top of the hospital bed.

The nurses slid the bed in the elevator, leaving them with their widen eyes and the lumps in their throats.

"He'll be transferred to the intensive care unit, we'll take care of him there. But I doubt you will be allowed to stay there as well."

"I'd like to personally see where and how he's going to be taken care of," Akashi answered immediately, not a single aperture in his voice to let the doctor to oppose. "And I don't think you can convince these guys to leave before they see him safe, too."

Without any words, the doctor leaded them to the other elevator and to the floor Kise was going to be cared in. The elevator was big enough for five teenagers and two doctors, but the atmosphere was too heavy that was almost choking them. They couldn't believe what they had seen. They couldn't believe such a happy and noisy guy could become so silent and shattered. Just what on earth had happened to _their_ Kise Ryouta?...

The door of the elevator slid open and revealed a corridor in front of them, the doctors went out and the others followed them silently. They passed doors and special rooms that were occupied, Kise was in non. The doctor finally stopped. He pushed his hands in the pockets of his white uniform, and gestured to the door near them.

"He'll be treated in this room."

All eyes turned to see a kind of window that let the people outside see inside of the room, and found Kise in it. Two nurses were still trying to check the devices and control his condition. Now the young men could see the broken arm of the blond that one of the nurses was trying to settle on a pillow, and the bruises on his chest and arms.

The doctors saw the teens' hands curling into fists. Even they could understand. The first sight they had seen from their injured friend was not enough for them to believe it, and now every thing was starting to carve in their minds.

One of them sighed. "There's..." He started.

Akashi and Midorima were the only ones that gave their attention to the doctor.

The other three were still digesting what they were seeing. The shorter blue haired and the giant purple haired had damp faces, but they themselves hadn't realized it.

"There's something else I must tell you," He needed to talk before those curious eyes pierce through him.

"We're still not sure what kind of disease he'll have when he wakes up..."

 _Silence..._

"What do you mean!"

The new voice belonging to some one that had just arrived, surprised every one...

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 **A/N: Sorry for the mistakes and for making Midorima's part so short, and I know I wasn't really good in the parts about hospital devices and all. I had problems with writing this chapter and I hope the result won't disappoint you. Please let me know your ideas. Reviews are highly appreciated.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** **I'm so sorry for the late update, and thank you so much for the supports.**

 **Thanks for the reviews from : Guest, Bloody Rose 16, Victorious-Mind and other reviewers.**

 **I hope you'll enjoy.**

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"We're still not sure what kind of disease he'll have when he wakes up..."

 _Silence..._

"What do you mean!"

The new voice belonging to some one that had just arrived, surprised every one. Now this was something none of the ones standing there could ignore. All the heads turned toward the newcomer, expect one sky-blue haired teen.

" _You?!"_ Came from the shocked Aomine.

"You're late..." Kuroko sniffled.

"What disease!" He repeated again, panting heavily.

"Who are you?! Non related people are not allowed to enter here!" One of the doctors said, obviously tired of all the troubles that this strange group of teenagers had made him.

"I don't care about that!" The new guy walked toward them hesitantly, terror and shock visible in his face. His chest was raising and falling awkwardly, blurting how fast he had been running like some one had been chasing him. He stopped in front of the glass window, between Kuroko and Murasakibara, and saw what the generation of miracles _minus Kise,_ were trying to digest in the few passed hours. His sight fell on the body resting under the white sheet... His eyes went wide. His lips were still parted. But the heavy exhales were now being hustled out with tremor. His breaths were slowing down, making less sound. But this was not good, because now the ones on the two sides of him could hear his awfully amorphous heartbeat. He gulped, and then, no one heard any more exhales. They knew what it was... They had reacted the same the first time they saw Kise on... the bed. His breath was being prisoned in his lungs...

There... _Kise_ was laying on _the_ bed... His body looked so fragile, so weak that he was afraid the two nurses were going to crush it if they were't careful enough. His blond locks had slipped aside due to the unkind bandage wrapped around his head, revealing his embowed eyebrows and his stilly eyelids. His mouth was lightly open, a conduit between his lips going inside his mouth. His left arm was broken. His chest moved heavily and hardly like breathing was the hardest thing to do in the world. And the red scars.. they looked really irrelevant, as much as the purple marks every where on his flawless figure. Kise looked like a marble statue... a hurt one. He looked like a sun... a whipped one. He looked too silent and inert, and that was killing him. A sun was never supposed to be like that... so _inanimate..._ He could feel Kise's body getting in pain when the air moved on his skin, and it made him feel the same sore in his own body, like a part of his own soul was resting in the body on the bed... No wonder why he felt like that, the source of both of their existences was the same. They were practically connected from the depth of their beings, by light _._ They were both _'lights'_ _..._ He didn't know when it had started, but he realized his eyes burning like a real hell had been set in them...

The expression on Kise's face was showing how he was in pain, he could swear. He could swear that he saw a single tear drop slowly trip from the blond's eye, but even the tear was too weak to make its way to the pillow. His ruby orbs could not split from the blond. What he was seeing, was much far from what he had imagined when Kuroko had called him in his way to the hospital. Kuroko had only told him that Kise had had a car accident. Alright, he had just told him about the car accident. He never told him about how awful the accident had been, or the bruises on Kise's skin, or his... _condition_. Kuroko never mentioned him being on this scary bed, motionless and _lightless._

"What... on earth... has happened to him..." He whispered, unaware of his left hand that came up and hesitantly rested on the cold glass, on where Kise's heart was supposed to be beating, his chest. His right hand raised to grip the fabric on his own chest, where his own heart was beating. His lungs weren't still ready to relax, but talking meant needing to breathe. He exhaled, as hard as Kise was doing so, and inhaled, as heavily as kise did so...

"Kagami-kun..." The words left Kuroko's lips in whisper, now staring on the ground. He couldn't take looking at his unconscious friend any more. A tanned arm wrapped around his shoulder. Only Aomine could understand whenever the Shadow needed this type of contact.

"I said you are not allowed to be here! Please leave now or I will have to call the hospital's guard to make you do that!" A hand gripping the crook of Kagami's elbow brought him out of his thoughts. He felt numb, he wasn't even sure if he could keep himself from falling if the hand pulled him a bit harder. His head slid a little to face one of the doctors standing behind him.

"He's with us." It was Akashi who saved him. Right now, he just wanted to be there, inside that cursed room. He didn't know what this feeling in his chest was. It was something aching, burning and scratching in his heart. Kagami and Kise were never the pair to be known for getting along or something like that. Kagami had never even met the guy for any matters other than basketball. They had never been close buddies, or even hang out mates. But what Kagami was feeling now was the way close buddies were supposed to feel toward each other. His throat felt tight, his whole body felt cold and torn, he felt null... Kise wasn't his favorite generation member, but he was the brightest light he had ever known. And seeing him in that situation... It was the last thing Kagami wished to see in his before and after life. Not the way Kagami didn't want to see any of his friends like that. He felt he was internally attached to the blond, he could _hear_ his moans inside him... _his_ _screams of pain_... _his words of begging for help..._

Right now, he just wanted to stand there. He needed time to sort out the chaos in his head, and his _heart._

"But Akashi-san non of you are allowed to be here and I know I'll be questioned for taking you here!"

"You don't need to worry about that, I will talk to the director of the hospital in person." Akashi's voice was confident, and that made the doctor wonder if he really was going to persuade him to leave with his friends. But he knew that there was no way an Akashi would not do what he had promised. So he knew that maybe he really was going to skip the punishment, still, he really needed to make them leave.

"Please, Akashi-san!"

"Alright..." Akashi looked at his former teammates. "Daiki, watch over Tetsuya and take him out. Atsushi, you help... Taiga." The metioned ones nodded, they all knew that they finally had to leave. And Akashi was grateful that neither Aomine nor Mura intended to oppose him and cause more trouble.

With a glance at Kuroko, Aomine leaded him back to the corridor that ended to the elevators, his arm still wrapped around his shoulder. Kuroko resisted at first. He looked at the injured sun once more, but then went along with the tanned guy.

"Kaga-chin..." Mura's face was still damp. He still sniffled time to time, but Akashi knew he could trust him and leave Kagami to him. Kagami didn't seem to be in a good physical or mental state, so he couldn't make any problem as well, as Akashi saw the only thing he did when Mura pulled his arm a bit was to lean to his side and be dragged easily, which was probably unconsciously. Kuroko wasn't any better than his light either, Aomine was kind of half holding half carrying him. And new born tears were still visible on his pale face. His eyes were still looking at the ground. The only thing that made Akashi worry for the sky-blue haired guy was that the one helping him didn't have steady steps himself. It wasn't noticable, but not if you were Akashi Seijouro. So he thought maybe it wasn't safe to leave Kuroko with him, and not fair to make Aomine suffer the pressure when he was handling his own internal trouble. He walked to the blue haired duo and gently grabbed Kuroko's left arm. This caught Aomine's attention that was standing on Kuroko's right side. He knew what Akashi meant by that...

"It's alright. I'll take him." Pressing Kuroko a bit tighter to his side, Aomine said. His persistence assured Akashi that Kuroko was going to be alright with him, he left them be.

The whole leave to the elevator and then the waiting hall went silent. As they exited the elevator, Akashi asked them all to leave to their houses, and that he was going to let them know about Kise's condition whenever he himself was informed about it.

Akashi was aware of Kagami's condition, so suggested him, Kuroko and Aomine to stay at Kuroko's place. Aomine and Kuroko agreed, Kagami just walked along with them...

After making sure every one has left, Akashi went to the male's restroom. There, he passed a mirror in his way, but his hetero-chromatic orbs stilled on the mirror, and made him stop in front of it. He looked at his reflection. The mirror reflected nothing less than the same Akashi every one knew. Cold... and ironic. But back then... when he first heard about the family's horrible death, he had lost his cool. Although the next second he had returned to the known Akashi, it couldn't hide how pathetically he had appeared weak when all his former teammates were watching him. It couldn't stop the floods of blame Akashi was throwing at himself. His reflection in the mirror was looking at him with such a disgust that only the most brutish masters looked at their most worthless slave that had made a mistake. Yes... He had made a mistake, the biggest mistake an Akashi can ever make. He had revealed the worst sight of him...and that was unforgivable. He had been the captain of Teikou, the one person all the members were supposed to trust and rely on the most. And yet, he had showed it... his _"weakness"._ With the ' _click'_ of the door opening, Akashi came back to himself. He needed to talk to one of Kise's surgeons, so he walked out of the restroom and to where he knew the surgeon would surely be, and found him there.

"A-Akashi-san? It's almost 11 p.m! I thought you have already left with the others!"

"There's something I want to know about Ryouta," He replied, melting the man under his burning gaze.

"W-w-what is it that you want to know, Akashi-san?!"

Akashi looked away from the man, like he was the most boring thing to look at and his eyes had found something worthy to look at. "We can't talk here. The hospital's cafeteria is undoubtedly closed, but I know some where close to here that we can talk in."

"B-but-..."

"It won't take us too long, and there will be no shifts you will have to attend until 2 a.m," The hetero chromatic eyes once more looked at the man.

"How do you kno-!" If gazes could tear things into parts, there wasn't any single thing remained from the poor man by now. He walked toward the man, his expression getting more and more threatening.

"It's nothing difficult to find," Now he was only an inch away from the man that had almost the same height as him.

"Now..." He began again, making cold sweat form on the surgeon's nape and his eyes widen in fear. "Would you accept this short companionship in you break or you prefer me to-"

"I WILL!"... That made the creepiest smile The man had ever seen on Akashi's face

"Good..." Akashi backed away, and turned his back on the surgeon. "I'll make sure to cause you no problem." He said, and walked away with the man following him, still socked and horrified...

* * *

 **A/N: Once more, I am truly sorry to make you readers wait, and I know this chapter kind of made you hopeless. Also I'll be happy if you mention my mistakes in grammar or meaning forms.**

 **There's something I need you guys to help me with, I'm having hardships deciding whether I must keep the platonic friendships or I must add romance between characters. I'll change the plot the way you very dear readers would want, so please let me know your ideas about this.**

 **Thanks for reading, Later.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Update time: 17:43 , 7/6**

 **A/N: Yo minna-san!**

 **I tried my best to update soon this time but it seems that I failed again! I read the reviews and well I got freakishly fired up to write more. And here you go with the new chapter!**

 **To all the precious readers who ask for Kise's wake, it will happen very soon! So let's be patient and move along with the characters who are going to have great roles in his life…**

 **I have to say that the reviews extremely made me happy and I want you guys to accept my deepest thanks for your kind and encouraging words! Arigatougosaimashita! *bows***

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

No… It couldn't be true… This looked just absolutely wrong. And there was no way he was going to believe it. How did he even expect himself to believe such a thing about his friend?! The friend that looked so cheery and noisy as always just this morning! No typical human being could believe that! It was just… impossible. And the damn thing was that the problem wasn't with him… It was his _mind_ refusing to get what he had heard. Everything looked just like a dream… A dream with him in it, and it had turned to a mare just when _that_ had happened, when he had found himself without a single thing called _plan,_ when he had asked _"What should I do now?…"_ for the first time in his life. He didn't know why the mare had chosen _him_ of all as its prisoner. He didn't know when or by whom he was going to wake up. He just knew that he wanted, no, _begged_ for wake. He didn't want to go any further in where the dream was aiming to take him… He _couldn't_ be where the dream wanted to take him. He needed to stop everything, he needed to scream or twitch right now so he'll wake up and then… there won't be anything remained from the dream around him. It will just turn into a closed notebook in his head…

But… Nothing was going to happen, and he was going to get sucked and sank in the dream... Because the whole thing looked like a dream as much as it seemed real and touchable, a _live dream._ Unbelievably real… So real he had to snap himself out of the trap of his thoughts that he was now in. So real he had to accept and face it, _soon._ It wasn't time for salving the scared brat inside him, not again…

Brushing his palms on his face for the tenth time, he sat straight and leant his head backward, his eyes closed. He needed to get ready. There were definitely more troubles going to show up as the day started and it was almost 5 a.m. That meant he didn't have much time to gather himself back, although the exhaustion he felt was indescribable, let alone the terrible headache he was suffering from last night. And here he was, sitting in his luxurious highly expensive black car since 2 a.m and wasting time like a loser. Once again, for the first time in his life, his mind had been disobeying him. As much as he tried to regain his energy for his body, his mind refused to save any. Last night had been just… beyond his abilities… He had been born to manage everything and everyone. But it was a group of guys that had just seen one of their close friends badly injured and unconscious on a hospital bed he was talking about… Not to mention that that friend was _Kise Ryouta…_ and let alone the killing frustration inside himself that he had to handle. While all he was allowed to do was to sigh hiddenly and shortly sometimes. And suffering those were all nothing compared to what he had heard from Ryouta's surgeon, the spot where pain had been added to his scary mare…It was like fate had gathered all the things he had been trained to face and fix during all those precious seventeen years of his life in that night to examine him and his claims. To mock him and tell him maybe he wasn't the absolute guy everyone, including _himself_ , knew…

He heaved a heavy sigh, and that was enough to at least bring him back the energy to open his eyes.

After a horrible evening, after a sleepless night spent in his luxurious car, it was finally the next morning informing of its arrival with the warm flames of the summer sun. It was the beginning of the summer, but it was mildly cold inside the car. However, his inner side didn't feel cool, not a single bit. He needed fresh air. Not just his lungs, but his mind, his whole being kind of… And not only to breathe, but to get refreshed as well. He reached his hand toward the knob beside him to open the door of the car…

"Akashi-sama?" His driver, half awake, uttered when the sound of the door being opened tapped his ears. Hearing no replies, he rushed to open the door for the master. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine."

"The hospital will not accept people inside yet! Why don't you rest a b-"

" _Do Not,"_ Red orbs landed on the poor man, shutting him up. "… make me repeat myself.… I said, I'm fine. I just need to take some air in."

"A-as you wish!"

He stepped out of the car, a morning breeze dancing with his short locks. Feeling a cool invisible hand caressing his forehead softly, he closed his eyes and sighed. Oh how he extremely missed his mother at times like this… He was sure if he could still hear her calling him _"Sei-can"_ or feel her caressing his crimson hair once more, there was nothing in the whole universe that he couldn't tolerate or take. But he was a grown man now, he had responsibilities and didn't have time to think about those things at the moment. He had to regain his power to be able to go through anything that was going to happen today. He needed to plan…

"Ten,"…

"E-Excuse me?!"

"Ten guardians. The news of Ryouta being in the accident will soon spread around the city, or even the country, as well as the news. We will have to stop the flood of journalists and annalists that will try to enter the hospital and make interviews with the surgeons or any of the hospital staff. It must be prevented. And to make that come true, we need ten guardians to control the two entrances, six in the front, and four for the other entrance. Call them as soon as possible. News of Ryouta's condition has to be hidden for now…"

"Yes sir!" As Akashi grabbed his cell phone, the driver did as he was told. Seconds later, the driver saw him walking toward the hospital's entrance…

…

"Sorry, kiddo! But you can't enter the hospital now!"

' _What the hell is with this kid?!'_ The man guarding the entrance of the hospital thought. He had been watching everything carefully, well not really carefully and suddenly this kid had appeared out of nowhere and walked toward the entrance confidently, like he was entering his own bedroom or something like that. It was about 5:40, meaning no stupid teenager in his age would be awake. So why this damn red haired kid was supposed to be walking to the hospital in _his_ turn of guarding when the hospital wasn't even accepting any visitors, he didn't know.

The kid stopped, his head turned to look at the man. _'Now… what the fuck is with his way of looking?!'_ Shiver ran down the man's spine. He walked toward the kid because no matter how weird he looked, he needed to stop him from entering the hospital, or else he was going to lose his job for the nth time. The kid smiled at him, and it was really annoying him because the smile was the way babysitters would smile to the babies, and for fuck's sake! He was at least thirty years older than this damn red head kid! Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?! He met his eyes, and those hetero chromatic eyes were kind of familiar to him…

"I'm sorry to tell you that I _am_ going to enter, and if there's something bothering you about that you can call your director and tell him that Akashi Seijouro is visiting. You'll see that you'll lose your job if he finds out you have interfered him."

' _ **Fuck!'**_

"A-Akashi-san! Please forgive my rudeness! I-I'm sorry for not knowing this sooner!" The man bowed. So this was the son of that bastard Akashi… Just the way the others had described, no… even scarier. And those hetero chromatic eyes…They could never belong to someone other than the heir of the Akashi clan…

Akashi took his eyes away from the bowing man, and continued his way once again… He knew that he was going to have the same problem inside the hospital, so decided to get rid of that by making a simple phone call with the director of the hospital. And that did it, just when he entered, one of the nurses in the reception greeted him with a real bow and then, leaded him to where he told her to… The nurse went inside the elevator with him, trying her best not to make any mistakes or say irrelevant things. He already knew the way, but he knew that sometimes he just had to accept these kinds of annoying things with people. As they went out of the elevator, he walked out and stopped, not looking back at the nervous girl standing behind him. This was enough, he needed to be alone from there…

"You can leave. Thanks for your help but I know how to get there from here."

"A-Alright!" The nurse left with a bow. And now it was Akashi, standing out of the elevator, staring at the corridor that looked much longer than the last time he saw and walked through it. He took his first step… So this live dream was never going to end after all… The second step… How did this even happen?... The third step… His father had never told him how to make plans for this kind of situations… The fourth step… How was he supposed to manage such a thing? He couldn't even believe it… The next step… and the next ones… He couldn't back off now… His blond friend was definitely going to need him. He needed to see everything with his eyes to satisfy his mind. And the last step… He stopped, and turned to the window to the room, _Ryouta's_ room. He wished he hadn't… His heart squeezed…

As fragile as glass, as weak as petal, as silent as an alabaster figure, was Ryouta sleeping in there. Akashi walked closer, he had had enough of that sight. But his mind seemed to need more evidence to believe everything. He needed to blink to clear his blurry sight. The same scratches and purple marks were still exposing shamelessly on his skin. The protector around his neck seemed to be much tight and bothering for him. He had had enough… He looked away. But he needed to get ready… His eyes returned to the window, and he blinked again. The devices controlling his consciousness and cardio respiratory were still showing the same things as the last time he saw them. Was it good or bad?... He wasn't sure… He just wanted the blond to wake up and tell him what the surgeon had told him personally was all wrong and he was totally alright. This all seemed to be convincing his mind. He had had enough… Turning around, he leant to the glass window. He had made up his mind. He was going to be there for him. He was going to make everything back to a steady type. He was going to be there for Ryouta… The glass behind him was cold. But then again, he felt hot. And now on his face, he let the little hot wet things slip down…

 _..._

 _From: Akashi_

 _To: Shintaro_

 _I want you to be in the hospital as soon as possible, as well as the others. Contact them and give my message to all of them._

After reading the message, he had texted Murasakibara and Kuroko, since him and his lights were staying together. The night had been sleepless for him as well. He hadn't been able even to think of taking a shower. He had just sat on his couch, leant his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his large hands. There was one thing he had repeated in his mind for a thousand times or maybe more, _'Is Kise going to be alright?'…_ The doctor had told them that he was going to wake up probably in three or four days, but what about when he would wake up? Was he going to be alright then? What was the doc saying about the disease he may have?...

Kise was going to wake up. This was good enough. But what about the time he was going to face the loss of his family?... And what disease could he possibly have?...

This was all confusing Midorima. He needed to know more, he could not wait a single more second. That was why the only thing he did after telling the others about Akashi's order was to take a hell of a quick shower, grab his wallet and rush toward the hospital. He didn't even remember to check Oha-Asa's prediction of the day for Cancer or his lucky item. There were things he needed to know, or else he was going to get insane… He needed to know about future… Or how much stronger he needed to get to be able to protect Kise from what was waiting for him after waking up, and Akashi with no doubts, knew the answers…

...

With the vibration of something in his pocket, Kuroko sat straight and pulled his cell phone out of the pocket. His sight was blurry, but still he could clearly see the screen after two or three times of blinking. It was a message, from Midorima-kun, telling him that Akashi-kun wants them all in the hospital as soon as possible. And here we go… His throat started to feel tight and dry again. He couldn't cry now, he needed to stay wise and aware. A gulp, and then another, and another. It didn't seem to be enough to push that lump away. He stood up, and walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of cold water. And it amazingly pushed the lump in his throat away. He heaved a deep sigh, as his hands turned to fists. Then he walked to his next destination… his bedroom, where Aomine-kun was occupying his bed. He needed to wake him up. But as he opened the door, Aomine-kun's body suddenly twitched on the bed and he sat up with a worried look.

"Something up with Kise, Tetsu?"

"No…" Kuroko looked away. "I thought you were asleep."

Aomine-kun scoffed, "Don't be silly. True that I took your bed, but do you think I'm that dump to be able to sleep after seeing-…" He stopped, his head slid to look away as well, as Kuroko was trying hard to keep himself from sniffling.

"Akashi-kun wants us in the hospital, quickly."

"Do you think something has happened?"

"I… I don't know…" Kuroko said, and left the bedroom, leaving Aomine.

It was hard seeing first Kise and now Tetsu like that. During the whole night, Tetsu and him was trying to take care of Kagami who seemed really unsteady and in an awful state. Kagami would rush to the restroom time to time and come out with an even paler face than before. And the times that he lied on the couch with wide eyes, Tetsu would sit at the end of the couch on the ground, and lean his head to the armrest where Kagami's head was resting. It was awful to see them both like that. So awful that made Aomine want to jump out of Tetsu's balcony and make himself a dramatic death. But hell… this wasn't going to happen because Aomine had a fucking working mind. And since last night, it had became painfully more working. Till last night, Aomine himself would even sometimes doubt his head for containing anything similar to _brain._ But then, when he had seen Kise, the guy who never gave up to beat him in the one-on-ones they used to play in middle school or their matches in high school, his brain had kind of awakened. He remembered Kise's passion for playing basketball, the brightness in his eyes whenever he shouted _"Please Aominecchi! Just this one more time! PLEASE!"_ after losing the one-on-one. He remembered the weird shine in his honey eyes whenever he asked him _"Did you see what I just did, Aominecchi?! Wasn't it REAL cool?!"_ when he copied a new move. How could he miss the times he saw him flying for a slam dunk like the golden bird of luck. And… how could he not remember when he broke this bird's swing in the Inter High… His mind was now so overworking Aomine was afraid to lose it again in a month or so. But after all those bittersweet memories, images of Kise on that bed rolling to the elevator, and then the devices that his fragile-looking body was attached to, the way they showed weird lines and numbers, the way Kise's chest moved up and down like there was a hundred kilo gram something placed on it, kept rushing in his mind. He would sometimes close his eyes but it was useless because they kept revealing in his sight again and again. It made Aomine's chest filled with some strange feelings he had never experienced before. All he knew among those feelings was _pain._ An extremely sharp and piercing pain that made breathing difficult and made his eyes and his lungs burn. He placed his left hand down to help his numb legs move and swing out from the edge. But he looked down to see his hand pressing against the pillow. And fuck… Tetsu's pillow was wet. How on earth had that happen? He just remembered that his face felt really warm. Probably then… Did that mean that he had…?

He walked out of the room. Kagami was standing by the counter, his right hand clenching to his fringes with a deep frown and wide eyes like before, while Tetsu was digging in a box to find some painkillers for him. Though he looked much better. They all were ready to leave. Despite all the tiredness that just one night had caused them, there was a strange and unknown brightness visible in their faces. Like they had found and known the path they were going to step in very well. Or kind of like… They had found the light they were going to follow, the light that belonged to a sleeping sun… It could be clearly seen in their faces that they were ready to confront with what was waiting for them…

...

"What the hell! Why can't you let us visit him?!"

Oh… so he had been late again. Hearing the shouting voice told him so. He had spent the night in a hotel Aka-chin had gotten him because there was no trains to return him to Akita so late at night and Akita was so damn far that even if he was able to return last night, it could take him at least four hours to come to Tokyo again. The room had been really nice and comfy, even the bed was big enough to take him in it without his long legs dangling out from the edge, but there was something bothering him so much that each candy he put in his mouth tasted bitter. And it was… _"Kise-chin is laying somewhere close to here in the hospital…"._ But there was differences between the way Kise-chin and him were laying. He was laying on a big bed with coffee colored pillows and cream colored sheets. But everything was white in where Kise-chin was seeping… His head was resting on his left arm, but Kise-chin's left arm was resting on a pillow, broken. There was a nightstand beside the bed with his cell phone and some candies on it. But there were probably drugs and the container of the blood beside Kise-chin's bed… There was a TV set in front of his bed, but what Kise-chin had was a couple of electric devices controlling his condition… These differences had made him grasp the poor pillow so tight that its boned were totally crushed if it was a human. He had pushed his face hardly in the pillow like it could stop the tears that didn't seem to be ending.

He recognized Mido-chin and the girl with long pink hair standing in front of the reception of the hospital, it was Sa-chin. But who was that… guy with the black hair that seemed to be shouting near her? His back was facing him and the nurse in the reception seemed to be trying to calm him down. Sa-chin was crying, though Mido-chin placed his hand on her shoulder. He looked more carefully… There were actually four dark haired guys other than Mido-chin standing in front of the reception…

"Mu-Murasakibara-kun!" Finally he caught Sa-chin's attention. He walked closer to her and the guys. And as he got closer, he recognized the guys. They were Kise-chin's teammates. Sa-chin was crying awfully, but he had promised to not to cry again. He gently put his large hand on Sa-chin's head and patted, not caring about the guys that looked surprised. "It'll be alright, Sa-chin… Don't cry…" How the hell was he going to work this tightness in his throat away?!

Hearing Aomine's voice calling for Momoi after a while, they splat to see Kuroko and kagami coming with him. Kuroko was finally the first one to greet the seniors, and the next second he was trying to regain his balance as to not fall when Momoi jumped on him. He circled his arms around the girl and patted her back soothingly. Not long after, Akashi showed up, walking out of the elevator.

"Akashi!"

Everyone including Kise's teammates walked toward him, the captain in front of every one. "Akashi! You can do something about this, can't you?! I want to see him and this damn nurse in the reception tells me that I can't!"

That they were the last ones that Akashi had told about the accident Kise had been in, was annoying enough for Kasamatsu. And now seeing this Akashi brat staying silent and just looking at them like it could fucking remind him that they were in a hospital and he had to stop shouting made was making him even more pissed off. Kise was somewhere in that damn hospital and every one kept telling him that his teammates and him couldn't visit him?! He was not going to accept. And he was now around his limits, and Akashi seemed to be tickling his nerves when he, Kise's captain along with his current teammates, were the only ones who hadn't seen him and didn't know about his condition. And that was insulting enough for him and the other three. His hand suddenly got thrown to Akashi and grabbed his collar, pulling him close forcefully. "GIVE ME A FUCKING ANSWER!"

"Kasamtsu!" Moriyama, the only guy who seemed to dare messing up with him, grabbed his wrist, splitting his hand from the redhead's shirt.

The air moved in and out quickly from the captain's mouth. Why did everything want to be on his nerves today… The accident had happened last evening, and he was here now in the next morning. Kise was his most annoying and stupid kouhai… But his favorite… Not that he would ever admit. Kise was the ace of his team. His hope… His luminosity… And he couldn't even get to see him now. It wasn't fair… "Captain!" Unconsciously, his body had crouched lower and it was when Moriyama and Kobori's arms wrapped around his waist that he realized it. He looked up, that damn Akashi was still keeping the same face.

"Before visiting Ryouta, there's something all of you," Akashi turned his head toward the incomplete Kaijou team, "as well as you, Kasamatsu-san, Muriyama-san, Kobori-san… and Hayakawa-san," Then he looked back at the former Teikou players, "…should know about Ryouta and… when he'll wake up. We have only three days till he wakes up, so we all must get a grasp of the probabilities and possibilities that future will take with itself…"

* * *

 **Future Aspect:**

" **Ku-Kuro…ko…cchi…"**

 **Greatest thanks to the reviews from: Prettylittlelirs, Bloody Rose 16, anim8or, Kise Ryouta-chin.**

 **Also, please tell me whether you prefer this mere writer to reply your lovely reviews by PMs or in the Author's Notes.**

 **P** **lease tell me what you think of this chapter, reviews are highly appreciated.**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Update time: 17:20 7/13**

 **A/N: Sorry guys! It seems that the more I try to update soon the more I lose track of time! I'm so sorry...**

 **Thanks to all your reviews and due to some problems with the net, I couldn't reply to all the reviews. but I promise that this will not happen again!**

 **Sincerest thanks to all the people who are following this story. I'm so grateful!**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

 _Pain_ … Pain… **_"PAIN"_** everywhere…

All he could feel was pain, and more noticeably in his eyes. He could… see. He could always see. So why did it feel different now?... His throat felt really dry, he needed to gulp. His tongue moved up to feel a hard unrelated hard and cold thing . What was that in his mouth?... And why was he feeling so much pain?...

As he tried to gulp, a sharp pain starting from his throat and ending in the bottom of his ribcage made him squeeze his eyes shut, but wanting to know what was going on and where he was made him open them again. His eyes were sore, and his sight was blurry. Feeling his eyes getting moistened, his sight little by little got clearer.

Everything was… _white_ … and still unclear. Shades of blue was visible, a light blue, like sky. But it looked far, so far… Now his throat was feeling tight, so tight it could choke him.

 _Pain_ … pain still everywhere, not leaving a single part of his body.

It felt like he had been chewed. So _grievous_ … He shut his eyes tight again, and everything was almost clear when he reopened them…

Everything was still white, but now in defined shapes. Ceiling... Walls... and...

"Ku..." He knew the guy standing above him! Yeah he knew him! But... What was he even doing there? And where was he himself? Wasn't he supposed to be in the car, with his family, taking a trip?... He needed to ask the guy.

"Ku... Kuro..."

"Kise-kun." The voice was so calming, so comforting. He felt something drop on his face, making his eye lids flutter a bit. Something hot and little, and then a sniffle was heard.

"Kuro...ko...cchi..."

"I'm here, Kise-kun." He felt a warm touch on his hand. Only when he closed his eyes once more did he realize that his face had gotten more moistened than before. Feeling another presence, he tried to turn his head to the other side. Useless... He found himself unable with a killing pain in his neck.

"Don't move,"

He moved his orbs to meet another familiar face with... black hair.

"Se..Sen...pai..."

"Shut up, Kise. Just... shut up." Oh... His senpai looked… awfully sad. His eyes were filled with something he didn't know. He could just see the captain's orbs getting covered with moist and then get back to normal again. Kasamatsu sempai was never known to show his emotions in public. Even in the Inter High when they had lost to Touo he had waited for everyone to leave and then... And he knew that. He knew why his sempai didn't want anyone to be around him at that moment. And he respected it from the bottom of his heart. That was why Kise had stopped his teammate from going back to look for him.

He looked back at Kurokocchi, he was crying too. Why?...

 _Pain..._ He felt tired. Extremely tired.

But it couldn't let that get over him now. He needed to ask Kurokocchi why he was there, and where he even was. _Where was his family?..._ He didn't remember anything.

The last thing he remembered was his younger sister sitting near him, his older sister in the back and his parents in the front. He remembered his mom talking on the phone calmly, and his father driving with annoyance. Kise-san hated driving and he always had his private driver. So the fact that he had to be the one to drive the family had really annoyed him. He remembered his sisters laughing at him bullying him about the time he would get an old pet and no girls would like him anymore. He remembered his older sister wrapping her arms around his neck from behind tightly, but careful to not to really choke him. It was tight enough to make him clench his hands to his sister's in protest and to make himself free, and his younger sister was trying to drawing things on his face with her red lipstick. And then... Everything had gotten black...

 _Pain..._ He heard a _click_ , and then a young woman with a white weird clothing appeared in his sight.

She started looking at something above him, but he didn't know what it was. Saying words that he missed to understand, the woman then again did things he couldn't see because he couldn't move his head. And after a short while, he felt his lids getting too heavy for him to keep them open. His sight started to get blurry again.

 _"It'll be alright... Kise-kun..."_ Was the last thing he heard...

…

It was Akashi's decision to let which two ones visit Kise in the room when he was going to wake up. Not that he had any problem with Kuroko and Kasamatsu as the chosen ones; Hell, he even knew no one could be more comforting than Kuroko for Kise. But there was a damn feeling inside him that he knew he won't be able to tolerate. And now seeing Kise's eyes get filled and emptied with tears, that he couldn't be there to wipe those tears _again,_ had made the feeling go insane inside him.

Minutes after Kise's wake, the nurse went inside and told something to Kuroko and the captain, and then injected something in the serum. With that, the two teens hesitantly left the room and came out. Aomine was the one to firstly walk to Kuroko and grab his shoulders. If he had been an idiot through his whole life, at least he best knew when Kuroko needed what, something that Kagami himself was still learning. Kuroko didn't resist either. Just when Aomine grabbed him closer to see whether he was alright, he leant closer to Aomine and let his tears moisten the tanned guy's clothed chest. And sure again, Aomine was the one to know best how he had to cradle Kuroko to calm him down, because the next second Kuroko was back to himself, removing the tears as fast as he could. Those three years of friendship had taught something to Ahomine after all. The other guy, Kasamatsu, looked weird. He could see no signs of sorrow or something like that in his face. He looked really serious, like the times when Kagami was trying to pass one of the fucking hardest levels of his fucking hardest video game. He said nothing, just walked away, probably to find the exit. And when Hayakawa moved to follow him, the other guy, Muriyama had grabbed his wrist to stop him…

Kagami looked back at the blond. He was asleep again. This time, his breathing would turn to short moans sometimes. Was because of the pain he was suffering? Or could it be that he was dreaming?... Non was good. Pain was awful, but a mare was even worse… Something swirled in his stomach, making his head stoop forward and place his forehead on the cold glass in front of him unconsciously.

Kise's family was dead, alright. But how the hell what Akashi and the surgeon had told them in the first day had come true?! Kise was a basketball player for fuck's sake! How could he not… Like… _KISE?! NOT BEING ABLE TO…_ Just… Impossible…

' _Kise… Get your fucking ass out of that damn bed…'_

* * *

Three days ago…

" _Before visiting Ryouta, there's something all of you," Akashi turned his head toward the incomplete Kaijou team, "as well as you, Kasamatsu-san, Muriyama-san, Kobori-san… and Hayakawa-san," Then he looked back at the former Teikou former players, "…should know about Ryouta and… when he'll wake up. We have only three days till he wakes up, so we all must get a grasp of the probabilities and possibilities that future will take with itself…"_

 _Akashi said, and turned his back to them. "Please follow me, we'll head to one of the surgeon's office." And he walked, the other's following behind._

 _As they arrived to the surgeon's office, each of them took a place to stand at a corner, Aomine still standing close to the Shadow. Akashi was standing in front of everyone the way he was facing each of them, a man with white uniform stood beside him. With a glance at the man, Akashi silently told him to start. The man cleared his throat and started…_

" _I'm… I'm sorry about what's happened to your friend, every one. And I'm even more sorry to tell you about… his situation in his time of wake." He stopped, observing all the faces._

" _Well… We first thought that the accident had been the kindest to him among his family members. But when we studied his brain…" He paused again, went to something like a board behind him and turned it on. The light glowed behind to the black X-ray photos sticking to the board and revealed the patters on them. Patterns like brain. Kise's brain, as it seemed. The doc started again…_

" _Clearly, his had been hit to his head… very tightly. It has even made a crack on his skull, here," He pointed to one of the X-ray photos. It was the pattern of a brain from the top view. The man showed somewhere nearly in the middle, closer to the front part. "The crack is not really deep, but it's considerable. And the area that has been hit is mostly the area between the frontal lobe and parietal lobe on his head," Again, the doc tried to read every one's faces. But the only thing he got was worry and confusion._

" _To make it simple, the stroke has hurt the center on controlling red muscle cells, which means…" He paused, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to be the one to tell them about that. The guy that had been in the accident seemed really important for them. He didn't want to be the one to inform them of that… He looked at Akashi, who seemed to have dealt with the fact. But the way the read head guy looked back at him just put more pressure on his back._

" _Which means that he'll have problems with moving…"_

" _What the…" Kasamatsu's eyes went wide, as well as everyone excluding Akashi. Kagami's legs gave in, Aomine's arm burdened his weight on Kuroko instead of holding him, Midorima went stiff, Momoi covered her mouth tightly with her hands. The sound of something crashing and breaking on the ground shocked them. Don't blame Murasakibara for that, it was right that he was the most giant and physically the most powerful… But his large hands had gone numb. It wasn't his fault that his hand couldn't hold his cell phone anymore…_

" _W-well his skull has stopped most of the stroke from reaching to his brain! The injury will be healed little by little probably in a week or so! But…" Reactions had started, and the kind wanted to dilute them._

" _But?!" Came from the always silent Kuroko, this time._

" _B-But…" The doc's head fell, as well as his voice. "We're not sure the part related to his legs will heal completely… There's no guarantee for him being able to walk like before… But there_ _ **are**_ _hopes for that!"_

 _That didn't help. Not at all. The man's hands turned to fists. Why did it have to be him to tell them about that?! Akashi was so cruel to make him do so… But… It should've been hard for Akashi as well. Maybe that was why he had made him for that. Still… It was cruel… Akashi was cruel… "Life", was cruel…_

* * *

Akashi-kun was talking to a man with white uniform. He knew the man. He was the man from that cursed morning… The one who had informed them of Kise-kun's…

Aomine-kun had gone to Momoi-san since she was having terrible time with her tears. It was alright, it _was_ going to be alright… He walked and sat on one of the chairs beside the wall where Murasakibara-kun had been taking another seat. Kagami-kun was… pushing his head the glass window, his eyes were shut tightly. Midorima-kun had walked to the window and was staring inside too, since him and Kasamatsu-senpai had come out. The Kaijou members excluding the captain seemed to be fidgeting, trying to calm themselves.

He leant back to the seat and tilted his head backward till it touched the wall behind him. A lump grew in his throat, but this one was too heavy to resist. His lids slowly moved to cover his cyan orbs, and despite how he disliked and had had enough of that, his tears once more slipped out. Not as many as the ones that had slipped on his face while visiting Kise-kun, but they were still hot, and made his lashed damp.

Feeling a hand ruffling his hair, he opened his eyes in shock. "Sempai?"

Muriyama sat next to him. With him sitting, there was no more free room for anyone else to take a seat, since murasakibara-kun was occupying almost two seats.

"Man, give yourself a break! This way you'll end up hurting yourself and getting sick… This won't make Kise happy you know." The look in the Kaijou player was worry and… Kindness?

"I can't." He took a deep breath, and blew it out quietly.

"You can't?"

"Sorry senpai… But… I can't." He stopped, sliding his head to meet the senpai.

"Look, we are all worried and… awfully sad, but the way you're pushing yourself will just-"

"Don't worry, senpai."

Muriyama stared at the blunette's eyes again. But, something had gone different in them. There were no more tears. Instead they were filled with… determination.

"Thanks you so much for caring," Kuroko tilt his head down a bit, making a slight bow "But I _will not_ end up getting sick or any weaker. In order to be able to support Kise-kun, I _can not_ end up like that."

Muriyama's eyes widen. _'This Kid…'_ He put his hand on the smaller guy's shoulder. _'So that's how they are…'_

"Please pay attention, every one." It was Akashi with the same surgeon again. This caught everyone's attention as they slid their heads toward where Akashi and the man were standing.

"I will now inform you that Ryouta's condition will get better in a nearly short time because of his strong body. So he'll be dismissed from the hospital in a week or so. However,…"

Aomine and Momoi walked closer, Kuroko giving his seat to the girl. Midorima had gotten closer to where Akashi was standing too. But the only thing that Kagami had done was to lean back from the window and open his eyes that were staring at Kise now.

"Since his close family members are… no longer with him, and most of his other relatives are living abroad, there will be no one capable of taking care of him."

Akashi stopped. As he had expected the look on everyone's faces had gone something between suspended and worried again. He hated how his friends had worried in only three days. They weren't kids anymore, but that amount of mass was even hard for adults to handle. This could cause them mental break downs or physical sicknesses. He especially worries for Tetsuya since even in his daily normal life he didn't seem to be having a proper heath judged by his smell figure and weak stamina. This wasn't good. Neither for Tetsuya, nor the others. He mentally sighed. He knew that Ryouta was precious for as much as he was precious for his former and current teammates. So he couldn't blame them, and he knew that trying to make them rest was just useless.

"I have been doing some paper work and discussions with the hospital director about it. Legally, non of us can take the responsibility to take care of him. The people from Social Service will soon appear in here. Ryouta is just seventeen, so if the officers from Social Service find no relatives to take care of him…"

"You mean Kise will be _adopted_?!" Aomine shouted in disbelief. Kuroko's hands raised to clench together behind his neck as Mura and Muriyama jumped of their seats.

"What the hell Akashi! Why don't you use your name to avoid that?!" Kasamatsu's fists were blown to air as he talked, Hayakawa behind him was trying to control his fists.

"There's _nothing_ to worry about that," Akashi said.

"Clarify your words, Akashi." Midorima adjusted hi glasses.

Akashi closed his eyes. His expression was complicated, like he was trying to figure out an enigma… Or more, like he was planning a strategy to fight against… who exactly?

"In case any of our families will be volunteer to look after Ryouta, if the director of the hospital as well as the Social Service officers confirm the family's capability of taking the responsibility, there won't be anything to worry about."

That took everyone in the depth of thoughts and silence…

"I'll take care of him, no matter what." Came from a spot after a few seconds. The voice was firm, no doubts, no hesitance sensed in it…

* * *

 **Future Aspect:**

 **"You?! How are you gonna take care of him?! All the thing you know is..."**

* * *

 **A/N: TT_TT**


	6. Chapter 6

**Update time: 15:10 7/26**

* * *

"I'll take care of him, no matter what." A thick voice uttered, bringing every one out of thoughts. The voice was firm, no doubts, no hesitance sensed in it.

Heads turned to see the double-color haired guy standing in front of the window, staring hardly at the blond's sleeping figure. His hands were pushed in his pockets. He did not move, not even blinked.

 _Kagami?_ Well… _the_ Kagami he knew? Taking care of Kise?!

"You?! How are _you_ gonna take care of him?! All the things you know are basketball and eating! What the hell made you think you can treat him?!"

This time, Kagami's body moved, his posture changed. His body slowly whirled away from the window to face Aomine. There was a strange tension and contraction in the red head's body that made every one twitch eyebrows in worry. Because well… his body-form resembled a tiger lurking to jump on its prey in no time… He wasn't the same Kagami…

No, he definitely wasn't the same Kagami from a minute ago.

"Oh? Don't make me laugh Ahomine. You don't wanna tell me you think you're the capable one for treating him, do ya?" Kagami said. And hell, there was nothing close to humor in his voice.

"Why not? I live alone. My parents earn too much to care of my existence, they just know that they need to give me what I want if they want me to not to interfere with their business lives."

"Huh! That alone means that you're the least appropriate!"

Aomine scoffed again, this time it turned to a soft but dangerous laugher as he lowered his head the way his short locks shadowed his eyes. Kagami wanted to mess with him, about something that Aomine didn't quite liked to be messed with, about _Kise._

He had once hurt Kise in middle school. Then again, he had hurt him once more in high school. If he had just simply hurt Kise like the way all the buddies sometimes do, it could be alright with both of them. But Aomine had hurt Kise _to the real meaning._ He didn't want to make that mistake again. He wanted to make up to him, and this was his chance. Besides, if he was an idiot, Kagami was no less. He didn't have the right to steal that chance. Who was he even to mess with _the_ Aomine Daiki?

Momoi as well as the Kaijou members gasped as Aomine's head raised. His gaze was straightly directed toward the red head. In his ocean blue eyes, a storm of dominance and determination was visible. Aomine was now in his fullest capability to beat Kagami even if it was in a battle of words. Because he wanted to make up. Because he had _changed._ He was sure Kagami didn't stand a chance against him when he was in the _Zone…_ He walked closer to the red head and grabbed his collar harshly in anger.

"What makes you so different then, Bakagami?" Aomine's free hand curled into a fist.

Kagami's body tensed even more. He was having hard time controlling the desire to punch the guy in front of him. His head tilted slowly and slightly backward as his eyes went close. But as he opened his eyes, nearly all of the guys standing close to him took a step back. Aomine noticeably flinched. What was glowing in Kagami's eyes made him so different from the Kagami he knew. He had never seen this side of Kagami Tiga anywhere else than in the court, in the match Touo had against Seirin, the very match in which Aomine had lost in basketball for the first time in his life because that Bakagami had entered the zone. He hadn't expected it to come. Well, he couldn't lie to himself. He Knew this was finally coming, but not so _soon._ Kagami was good at basketball, yeah. But his light was still too dim to enter the zone then. And it had happened, with Kagami reaching the same level of dominating the court as him. It had annoyed and surprised Aomine, but a strange feeling of amusement had also born inside him. Why not, he had waited a long time for a valid opponent to show up. With all of that, he had never expected to lose against that dumbass.

Then again, he doubted if he had seen this side of Kagami, so _strong and shining,_ even in the court. Basketball had always been Kagami's most favorite and top priority as much as Aomine knew about him. So this was stupid to think that what he was seeing in his eyes was something beyond what he had seen in that match, right? Because for fuck's sake! It was about Kise that Kagami had met only a couple of times and for no matters other than basketball! The kise that had pissed Kagami off to no ends with the way he had showed up in Seirin for the first time! The Kise that had awfully ignore Kagami in the first Kaijou Vs Seirin match! So why on earth this time Kagami's eyes were glowing much more raging and wildly than in all of the times he had entered the Zone?! It couldn't be that Kise was right now on top of his basketball, right?!

Kagami stared blankly at the Blue head. Aomine didn't like that face, it made him see how the easy victory was in the red head's hand…

"You know what, Ahomine?" Kagami's right hand raised to clench to the hand gripping his shirt.

"Maybe I don't burden the others shoving my responsibilities off and acting like an asshole, shouting _the only one who can beat me is me_."

Aomine's eyes widened. He gritted his teeth harder again as his free fist speedily raised to place a fair punch on Kagami's face…

"I support you, Kagami-kun!" The sound of a third person stopped the blue head's fist. That voice… How could that be…

Aomine's hands loosened in surprise. His head slid to see Tetsu standing further than where he was a minute ago, his hands in tight fists and his eyes filled with anger.

"... _Tetsu?!_..."

The tanned teen's hands fell to his sides silently as he kept staring at Kuroko in disbelief. Kuroko was his former shadow. He had been one of the people Aomine had cruelly ignored... But Tetsu just _knew_ how important this was to Aomine, so why did he just?...

What was with Kaga-chin and Mine-chin?! They were both idiots, non of them was to talk about taking care of Kise-chin. Not that he was, but at least he wasn't acting cocky like those two.

What was with the way Mine-chin got all fired up and angry whenever it came to Kise-chin?

He himself had seen how the tanned boy had started ignoring the blond when they were in the third year of middle school. Mine-chin had gotten so full of himself, he couldn't see the sparkles in his eyes when he asked him to play one-on-one. Kise-chin kept smiling even though Mine-chin rejected him every time, claiming that playing with him was boring and he didn't want to waste his energy, but Mura never missed to see how his eyebrows twitched hardly for a second, even if they were hidden under his long locks.

And even in the Inter High, Mine-chin with no doubts knew that Kise-chin's body could not tolerate that much of pressure, still he kept provoking the blond to bring his best out of him. Only because he wanted to see if Kise-chin had the potential to stand against him real opponent.

Mine-chin wasn't the one to talk about treating Kise-chin, not at all.

Mura walked over toward the window. He looked through it, at Kise-chin that had the same pained expression as when Mine-chin pushed him away in middle school.

What was with the way Kaga-chin stared at Kise-chin?

Kaga-chin had been standing like that, putting his forehead on the glass window since Kuro-chin had come out of the room until Aka-chin had started talking. Mura didn't understand how it could help Kaga-chin feel better. It was like he could talk to Kise-chin and hear him back when he put his head on the window that way. The thought was weird, but the way Kaga-chin closed his eyes, sometimes tighter, and sometimes looser made it look like that; Like he was asleep, and was dreaming. Maybe Kise-chin was really talking to him in the dream because there were apparently scary and awful things in his dream that made him shut his eyes tighter time to time.

Oh… Just screw all those thoughts. His father would blame him and tell him to stop being so childish if he knew how he was thinking right now. Kaga-chin was only doing that probably because he was remembering Kise-chin's pain. He was probably feeling really awful because he hadn't been the one that was by Kise-chin's side to assure him of his supportive presence when he woke up. Yeah… that was more probable…

Anyway, Kaga-chin wasn't the one to talk about taking care of Kise-chin because he was an idiot as well…

But still, these were only _his_ thoughts, and _his_ feelings. Not Kaga-chin's. Kaga-chin was definitely thinking of something else. Something big, heavy, and hurting. Something that if Mura's head was supposed to be carrying, it would've exploded till now. What was in Kaga-chin's mind was something that non of the others standing there had in their minds… If not, he wouldn't be the only and first one to say that… _He'll take care of Kise-chin, no matter what…_

"Keep your voices low, you two. We're in the hospital." Akashi finally interfered.

"Are you both serious about deciding to take care of him?"

The two turned to face Akashi, and nodded.

"Then, you know that it won't be easy."

The two guys nodded again.

"It's stupid! Kise's house is closest to mine! Why would these kids be even considered for treating him?!" Kasamatsu complained.

"Ryouta won't need to attend at school since it's just the beginning on the summer break. And with his condition he won't be able to practice or play basketball, so there's no need for him to be treated in his house or anywhere close to his house. I'd mostly prefer that the right person would be chosen to take care of him, even if the place he'll be in won't be close to his house."

"Then count me in as well! I can't trust these idiots to leave Kise with them!" The captain stepped close to Akashi.

"Yeah count us in!" Koburi confirmed.

"Alright then." Akashi took a short breath. "Who ever that wants to take the responsibility, should be the one to tell him about his family's death."

" **WHAT?!"**

* * *

 **A/N: I'm truly sorry for the supper late update! I hope you have enjoyed the chapter and please do forgive me for the mistakes you've probably found in it.**

 **I'm sorry if the pace of the story is really low but I promise that we will stick to Kise-kun as much as it will satisfy you guys, so please bear with this mere writer and keep coming with me through the chapters!**

 **Also, I want to thank you for your kind reviews and please be kind to me and let me know your sweet and precious thoughts again in reviews.**

 **Thanks for being patience with me and** **for reading,**

 **Later!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Update time: 21:56 7/29**

 **Warning: Unbeta-ed**

* * *

 _Breathe._

A deep inhale. It felt like the last time he had breathed was long ago. His throat and his respiratory tracts felt wider and looser it made him want t o swallow a big gasp of air into his lungs. It could cause him a great pain in his chest, but it was worth it. He needed that.

He could breathe freely. Damn, he always had been able to, but now it felt so different. It was starting to terrify him, feeling so strange and touched about every least thing he once did and now it seemed so new to him. The first time he had opened his eyes in the hospital, his vision was blurry and his eyes were sore like it was the first time he was using his them. No matter how much he had blinked and tried to clear his sight, the watery layer kept making the white scene in front of his eyes unclear. Still his mind had managed to capture Kuroko-cchi and Kasamatsu-senpai's faces looking down at him somewhere safe and remembered. Back then, he couldn't understand why he was down, and why the two were looking down to see him. But the next few times he had opened his eyes to see no one he knew other than a couple of nurses that came to check on him and leave right after, he had figured that he was in a hospital. Some of the nurses would sometimes talk to him with a warm smile, ask him if he was feeling any better even though he couldn't talk yet. But even those warm smiles or greetings were not enough to soothe the loss feeling he was surrounded by…

The first time he got to utter his first words, shaky and unclear, he had asked one of the nurses why he was there. She had answered him with a sorrowed and sorry look in her face, and it had been there where he had found out about the car accident. The nurse had left, not letting him ask anything further. But the next time he had gotten the chance to enounce his words, more accurate and understandable, he had asked about his family. The first nurse he asked about that from, claimed that non of the blond's family members had been in her duty to check on, so she was totally uninformed. But the next couple nurses that had been asked about the same thing, promised to get some information about them for him. Although, for some reason, the nurses that checked him regularly, were never the same as the ones he had met before. And not to mention each time he tried to make an attempt to talk he got so exhausted that he fell asleep right away, not even getting the opportunity to try moving his muscles other than the ones that supported his jaw.

He tried to exhale, and got surprised by how easily and softly the air flowed in his breathing ducts. It sometimes made a burning feeling in his chest, but it still felt good to breathe smoothly. Oh… the conduit was no longer in his mouth and throat, as the nurse that he had met yesterday had promised him. Through the three days since his first time of wake, the conduit had helped him breathe. He had gotten used to the awful tightness it made in his mouth because without it, breathing could get even harder than how it was for him now, maybe even impossible. But now it was no longer there, and this tiny change made him feel hopeful and refreshed.

He was awake. But his lids felt so heavy and persistent to keep his eyes covered. Though he wanted to open them. Because since he had seen Kuroko-cchi and his captain beside his bed there had no familiar faces appeared again in the room. He had started to wonder if he had really seen those two or if it had been just an illusion. But Kise Ryouta was too far from giving up on hope, even with the situation he had. He needed to know. About his family. And their wellbeing. He needed to know. Even if trying to utter his words as clear as he could, meant using all the energy he had to save for his body to get healed. And so he wished for familiar faces. Familiar faces weren't the ones that made you hopeless. They would definitely help you. Kuroko-cchi would definitely help him. Kasamatsu-senpai would definitely help him. They would get him news of his family…

The keen light that pierced through his now parted eyelids, passes his iris and hit his retina straightly. The same sore he felt the first time his lids uncovered his eyes was now back in them, making him shut his eyes close. Were the lights in the room brighter than the last time he woke up?... Maybe... But maybe he had just slept longer than the last times, and so his eyes once more needed time to get used to… _lights._

As he tried to open his eyes once again, he felt a sudden warmth on top of his face, there… on his bandaged forehead. The warmth was strange. It contained a softness. And it was landed widely on his forehead. Not too heavy to bring him in pain, and not too light to stay unnoticed. Just like a… palm?

"Kise?..."

Kise…

 _Kise?..._

"You don't need to open your eyes if it bothers,"

The words started spinning in his mind, the voice ringing in his ears. He kept his eyes closed, not making any more attempt to open them. Now he needed his ears and sense of hearing more. Was it… the voice of a familiar face he just heard?...

"…I know you're awake."

 _I know you're awake…_

 _He knows he's awake…_

' _ **Talk more please!**_ _'_ He mentally shouted, not that he could really do it. He knew the voice. He needed to make sure of it. He needed the guy to talk more so he could make sure that he was awake and he was not just dreaming of… _Kagami-cchi's voice…_

' _Talk to me please…'_ He begged. It couldn't be just a dream now that his hopes had gotten to their climax. He could not end up with opening his eyes and seeing the same white ceiling of the room, lonely and desperate. Not now that he had found life and _light_ in that voice. A mixture of heat and burning sensation annoyed his eyes as he felt them getting more and more wet, until he felt his face being brushed.

"Hey… It's alright, we're here for you,"

It didn't help, not at all. It just made him fear more about it being a fading dream. More tears pushed their way out of his closed eyes.

"You're such a crybaby even at a time like this…" The voice softened, a small bubble of humor added in it. He felt the warmth move down to his right eye, brush the corner of it and lower on the right side of his face, then stop there. Another feeling on his left shoulder informed him of it being lightly gripped and caressed as the harsh light that was awaiting his eyes behind his eyelids lessoned. He couldn't wait anymore. If it was a dream, he wanted it to be gone right that instant, and if it was reality, he wanted to greet it with his own eyes… right that instant. He carefully, slowly opened his eyes… and they caught the sight of a tanned man slightly hovering his head down.

"Ao-Aomine… cchi!" His voice turned out into a cracked whisper. So finally God had granted his wish. The familiar faces were showing up.

"Yo." Aomine-cchi grinned. It wasn't a real grin, it was small, shadowed, and pained. Still, it was a grin.

Not that he had gotten hopeless, Aomine-cchi was one of those familiar faces he had wished to see. But… Why was he hearing Kagami-cchi's voice?

Feeling the warmth on the right side of his face being removed, he painfully and very slightly moved his head to his right side, spotting firstly Kaijou's captain an then… Kagami-cchi standing on the right side of the bed.

"S-senpai… Kagami-cchi…" Tears began to flow on his skin once more.

"Come on, you spoiled brat." There was a little smile on the red head's face as well. But at least it seemed more genuine than Aomine-cchi's. The tanned guy's hand on his left shoulder started caressing soothingly again. It helped Kise to hold the tears back, gather his strength in his throat and shove out his words in a low and weak voice. He looked back at Aomine-cchi.

"What… ha.. happened… to my fa… fami..ly?"

Aomine-cchi's expression worsened. His left arm that was hanging loose on the side of his body now raised to scratch the back of his head. "Your family… you ask…" His eyes escaped the honey orbs filled with need and appeal. At first he stared at somewhere at the end of the room. But then, like it took his life out of his body to do so, his sight landed on Kagami-cchi intimately.

Their eyes entangled together for seconds before Kagami-cchi looked at the senpai, but what Kasamtsu senpai did much to Kise's surprise, was to tighten his fists and murmur a "I can't…" with gritted teeth and dropped head. Kagami-cchi sighed, deep, long and exasperated. Then he tilted his head lower to catch Kise's eyes. What the blond saw in his face was… morn. Did he ever mentioned to God that the familiar faces he had wished for never had such a… _scary expression?_

"I'm sorry, Kise…"

* * *

Akashi was standing. Straight and firm. His thoughts were arranged, his plans were made, his face was calm,… but his heart was burning. He couldn't believe what he had done. Was it him to always worry over Tetsuya's health? Was it him to always care for Atsushi's improper meals? Was it him to always think of Ryouta's overworking? Was it him to always care about the high schools Daiki or Shintaro attended?

So what on earth had he pushed that awfully heavy responsibility off his own shoulders and to his former teammates'?

Akashi was a coward, that was what he now believed. He had never done something worse than what he had done to those guys and specially Daiki. It was shameful. So shameful it could be published as the head title in newspapers and magazines: _**Akashi Seijouro has turned to a disaster and a shame to his family by RUNNIN AWAY.**_

What everyone believed was that what Akashi had brought up between those guys who wanted to take care of Ryouta had been the best and worst way to decide for the matter. But what Akashi himself believed was that he _was_ a coward… Because despite what everyone thought, the reason behind what he had done was that… he had gotten tired; Of being the first one to tolerate the worst things. He had been the first one that was informed about the accident, he had been the first one to hear about Ryouta's family's death, he had been the first one to get to know about the problem Ryouta will have after his wake. He was just fed up with it and he knew that there won't be any volunteers to tell Ryouta about his family, and he didn't want to be the first one for that…

He walked toward the glass window, where the three rivals were handling the burden he had put on them. He regretted that in no time…

Ryouta was staring at Kagami Tiaga, his body was tense, his eyes were wide. _So_ wide it pained Akashi's heart. His face was so pale, almost as pale as the first time they saw him on the bed after the surgery when he had lost much blood. Soon after, he could hear the guys shouting _"Kise! Oi Kise! Breathe! Come on mate Breathe out!"._ The crimson haired teen cured himself mentally, and when he was done, he started cursing whatever he saw or thought of. The doctor and the nurses that were standing outside to manage any coming problems, rushed in and pushed the teens out.

Akashi shut his eyes, wondering if he wanted to kill the one who had told Ryouta about his family, or the one that had caused the car accident, or… himself. Tetsuya, Shintaro and Atsushi who were standing behind looked at Akashi and then at the teens that left the room. Akashi for a second wished to be invisible like Tetsuya…

Aomine-kun rushed away and left the area as he came out of the room. Kuroko just stared at his back. He wanted to follow him, tell him it was alright and cradle him the way the tanned guy had done the same through all that time that Kuroko was trying to get used to the condition and get back his balance. But he also knew that Aomine-kun needed to take his time in private as much as he wanted at times like that. The Kaijou members had surrounded the captain, probably murmuring comforting words to him and giving him supportive hands.

Kuroko looked back, at where Kagami-kun had walked to and sat right after exiting the room. The ace's head was dropped, his hands forcefully covering his face. The bluenette walked closer, careful and watchful to see if he wasn't supposed to do so. His current light seemed to be having hard time, and he didn't want to let him be in that state, alone. He walked closer, and silently sat next to Kagami-kun. His hand raised, and hesitantly landed on the red head's shoulder patting it warmly. Kagami-kun's body was rembling. He flinched Kuroko's touch at first, but then his hands moved up and his fingers merged in his hair, clutching it hardly, and Kuroko saw his damp face and widen eye…

"Kagami-kun…"

The next thing Kuroko understood, was Kagami's head pushing on his shoulder…

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! It seems that I finally got to update sooner than before! I'm so happy!**

 **So many thanks and much regard to the people who reviewed the last chapter:**

 **Victorious-Mind, AlexCub, TheOtakuMageofAwsomeness, prettylittleliers, Bloody Rose 16, and other lovely readers who have reviewed for most of the chapters! My senscerest thanks will be announced to them in later chapters!**

 **Thank you all for reading, look forward to the next chapter!**

 **Later!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Update time: 13:05 4/8**

* * *

" _I'm home!" The door clicked open and the cozy and warm feeling of home tickled his back._

" _Welcome, honey. How was school today?" A voice, kind and soft and far, answered._

" _It was great!" He replied, switching his way toward the upstairs._

" _Do the boys still act strange and jealous around you?"_

" _Well… Yeah… But you can't believe I found some great guys! They might be friends of celebrity but… still they were nice!" Now he was in the room where the voice was coming from. There, in front of her closet, stood the young and elegant lady, her back facing him._

" _Really? That's great then. I'm happy for you." The lady turned to face him, a warm, warm smile on her face. It was so warm that he couldn't resist the urge to pounce on her despite how she was going to complain about it._

" _Moooooooom!" He jumped carelessly. Yes, carelessly. Because he knew that this lady was the only person that would never dodge his sudden hugs, even though she wasn't the type to like hugs._

" _Ryouta!" The lady's voice was full of a serious scolding. She tried to get the boy away._

" _You're already taller than me and you still do this every time!" Her voice softened._

" _But I'm still mama's son and I want a hug from her when I come back from school!" The boy tried to make his teary puppy eyes._

" _Ahh… Ryouta are you even aware of how old you are?"_

" _Mamaaaa~!" Ryouta threw his arms toward the lady again. But this time he tried to tuck his head below the lady's chin._

" _For the love of God, Ryouta, you're fourteen! Stop calling me like that, you're not a kid anymore!" A hand brushed on Ryouta's head, caressing it lightly and fondly. It felt amazingly great, it felt like home. It made the tiredness in Ryouta's body and mind that he was unaware of, fly away by the instant the hand touched his hair, like a magical touch. He sighed._

" _I'm sorry honey, but I need to leave in a few minutes." The lady quietly said, leaving a kiss on top of the boy's head._

" _Eeeeh?! Again?! But what am I gonna do alone at home without dad and nee-chan and nee-san coming home so late?!" Ryouta splat his arms from his mom._

" _You must have gotten used to it by now, right? By the way, I can't decide which suit will be better for the meeting I'm going to attend in, can you help me decide?"_

" _Well, mom looks amazing in whatever she wears!" The blond boy said, with so much cheer that surprised even himself. Could his mom awaken such a great amount of energy in him even after the exhausting day he had had at school?..._

...

Farewell… Mom.

...

' _Ahh… please, enough of that!'_

 _He had been trying to focus on his biology notes since half an hour ago, but the sounds coming from his parents' bedroom didn't seem to be stopping. And the thing he couldn't understand was that 'Why don't they ever notice that I can hear them?!'_

 _But the strangest issue was that his parents were talking about him of all the things!_

 _Mom had been scolding dad about how he never spent time with his children and specially Ryouta because there was supposed to be a special bond between the son and the father. Mom was right. The whole thing dad ever cared about was if the bills for his children's schools or university or other stuff were paid and that there was nothing that they wanted but they didn't have. Well, this was something that he loved about his dad. But… to be honest he always felt envy toward his friends when they talked about the times they hung out with their fathers._

 _The sounds went down, and he could no more hear them. He sighed and went back reading his notes again. A few minutes later, he heard a knock on the door. This was seriously starting to piss him off because for the love of God he had a biology test tomorrow and he needed to study for tests or Akashi-cchi was going to never let him play in the team again. And now that he had finally decided to study all the things seemed to be not wanting him to do so. He put his notebook on his face as he laid on his bed. Why on earth grades were so important to Akashi-cchi anyway?_

" _Come in."_

 _The door opened then closed, and feet stepped in._

" _Studying?"_

 _The boy jumped up. "Dad?!"_

 _Dad walked closer and sat on the chair behind Ryouta's desk as the boy's curious and wide eyes followed him. He couldn't remember the last time his dad had come into his room._

" _So, how's your job been going, well, modeling?"_

" _Well!..." He rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "It's been going alright! If… I ignore the tough schedules and… the problems that celebrity causes?" He nervously laughed again._

" _You know you need to pay more attention to your studies, and as I've been informed, your grades are nothing close to satisfying."_

 _So that was it. After all that time dad had come to his room to scold him about his damn grades, and nothing more. He dropped his head._

" _In order to enter a top high school you need to improve your studies, so I want you to make sure your career or… club activities won't interfere with the time you have to study."_

 _Dad, seriously, is that all?_

" _Sure."_

 _The man stood up from the chair, heading toward the door. He stopped as his hand grabbed the doorknob. "Even if your grades are not what I expected, I'm still proud of you, son…"_

 _He left. He did leave. Indeed, he left Ryouta with even wider eyes a gaping mouth._

' _Dad…'_

...

Farewell… Dad.

...

" _Stop crying, nee-chan! No one dares to even lay a dirty look on you anymore!" He tried to keep the girl closer to him, patting her back to give her comfort._

" _It was really scary… The guy… he just… came out of nowhere and-"_

" _It's alright… You're safe now." Feeling tremor run down nee-chan's body, he hugged the sobbing girl even tighter. The expression on his face turned even darker and scarier. "If you had just let me go with you when you left after your discussion with dad, this whole thing wouldn't have happened!" His hands on the girl's back turned to trembling fists. "That bastard…"_

 _Not even that made nothing better, but also it made more tears run out of the girl's eyes. She melted closer and more fragile in her brother's arms. Ryouta shivered as he thought what could have happened if he had arrived a minute later and hadn't punched that bastard who had tried to fucking touch his nee-chan ._

 _After sitting on the bench in the empty park for a few more minutes, the girl slowly seemed to have recovered from the shock and terror. She leaned back a bit, and the brother's arms immediately gave her freedom as he didn't want to make her feel uneasy._

" _Wanna go home?" He offered with a smile, and took off his sweatshirt to cover nee-chan with it. She smiled back. They stood up and walked back to home, with him never removing his arm that was wrapped around his sister's shoulder and keeping her close enough._

" _Ryou?..." Nee-chan stopped walking when they had just taken a few steps out of the area of the park._

" _Hm?" He looked at her, worrying if there was still something she feared about. But there was a smile on her face, and it quite relieved him._

" _You know… You're my little brother, and… Hell you're now taller than me! But still…"_

 _Ryouta chuckled. He had never seen his cheery sister fidget this much to find some normal words before._

" _Still I'm your big sis, it was kind of supposed to be the other way around… I mean, I should've been the one to save you if you were in trouble…"_

 _His brows traveled up as she continued._

" _This time… It was like I was the younger sibling… The way you showed up and saved me when that guy was almost-…"_

 _Ryouta's hands curled to form his fists again as he remembered the scene…_

" _Well, I could never picture you more than the five year old kid I used to put those girly dresses on him or style his hair in a girly shape… But tonight, I just... realized that even if I'm the older sibling, I can trust and rely on you like a big brother…"_

 _The boy's eyes widened._

" _I don't care if mom's gotten sank in her career!... I don't mind if dad is abroad more than half of the year! It's alright with me to know Laura-nee is going to move in with her mate! I'm just…"_

 _Nee-chan stopped, but not for so long. She dropped her head._

" _I'm just happy that we've got you… I'm happy to know that… you never change."_

 _Tears filled the blond boy's widen eyes. Much to his surprise, he realized that he had gotten a few steps away from his sister when she was talking. But the distance between them felt so irrelevant that Ryouta couldn't resist that familiar urge again… The urge to pounce on his target. He almost caught his sister and himself from falling on the ground._

" _Damn it you idiot! My back hurts when you do this!"Seriously. Nee-chan could switch the mood so easily._

" _Nee-chaaan~!"_

" _You know what, Ryou? I take back whatever I just said."_

" _Ahaaa nee-chan you meanie!" …._

...

Goodbye…Rika nee-chan.

 _..._

 _As the curtain moved away from the open window, the sunshine bathed his skin and the slightly breeze tickled it, both trying to wake him up and tell him to get ready for the new day. He switched his body under the sheets, stretched his arms up and let out a long yawn. His eyes slightly opened, letting the world greet those stunning honey colored orbs. Time to leave the bed._

 _He walked out of his room, the ground feeling hard and cold under his feet, making him shiver a bit._

" _Mom?..." Definitely the first person he wanted to see after his wake. But there was no response._

 _Oh. His mom had left probably an hour before he had woken up._

" _Onee-chan?..." Well, he didn't want to have the breakfast alone._

 _Damn. Onee-chan had left yesterday, to her new college._

 _Dad was still in his mission out of country, to make new cooperating contracts with new companies. It had been two weeks since he last met him._

 _Onee-san and his boyfriend had visited yesterday, but had left at night. She was probably now having breakfast with her mate._

 _He was alone._

 _Not even he was going to have his breakfast, now he had to prepare his own breakfast. How it sucked… He walked toward the kitchen, opened the fridge to pick some milk. A glass of milk was going to be enough as breakfast. What was the point in having anything else when there was no one to accompany him anyway?..._

 _As he put the cartoon of milk on the table to grab a glass, his still sleepy eyes caught sight of something… Just a bit farther than where he had put the milk, there was a bento with a note on it._

' _I made this for you before leaving! I hope someday your face will get like an old man so the girls will stop screaming around you! The way it causes the other boys to get all jealous and distant from my little bro annoys me!_

 _Take care!'_

" _So mean~ nee-san!" He whined. But then his lips bloomed in a smile in no time. Nee-san had made him a bento, he didn't need to eat from convenience store today!_

 _But… still he was alone…_

...

Siounara… Laura nee-san.

...

He was alone now. And that was what he now knew. What he had to think of. What he had to deal with.

' _Bye…'_ He closed his eyes. Pictures of the last time he spent with them, laughed with them, felt with them, ran through his messed thoughts again. He could still feel nee-san's arms around his neck, not too loose, not too tight. Warm. Just warm.

He could still remember the way mom smiled when she saw them so happy together again. With so much fondness.

Everything was gone. _Gone…_

' _Bye…'_ The flood of tears found their way out of his closed eyes…

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! I guess this is a late update so... sorry!**

 **I hope you have enjoyed the chapter and please let me know your ideas about it. It really helps me to know there still are people who like and read this story.**

 **Thank you so much for reading,**

 **Later!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Update time: 18:00 8/27**

 **Warning: Unbeta-ed**

* * *

This was starting to taste much more awful than Kagami had thought. He hadn't seen the blond for a couple of days, hadn't even dared to look over that glass window to the blond's room. But there was no way for whoever –Kuroko and Akashi mainly- that had gone inside the room to return without a shitty mood. You couldn't even look at them when they came out of it, like even the first sight of them could kill. Even Kuroko was like that. He no more cried, but there was some darkening cloud in his eyes Kagami was afraid to face. Fuck… All that meant that Kise's attitude hadn't changed since the last time he saw him…

Yeah… The last time he saw him, three days ago. Three fucking days that felt like a whole year. He wasn't sure if he was going to recognize the boy if he was to see him again. More likely, he wasn't sure if he was going to recognize himself if he looked into a mirror or rather… the glass window to Kise's room…

If the blond looked lightless after the accident, with what he had heard, he had really turned to a lifeless body. Kagami Taiga who always cursed everything for why the universe had given him such a low intelligence, was now cursing the universe this time for giving him even that little amount. Because damn… The scenes he had never planned to watch even in a movie, were now so live and vivid in his head. When had he ever even grown such an amazing ability of remembering?

After that time, when he had seen how that pale visage had gone shocked, and how the owner of it had gone breathless, like the time had frozen all around him and Kise, Kagami hadn't dared to take a little glance at the blond. It was mostly like he was afraid that _Kise_ would see him. Because he, Kagami fucking Taiga, had acted like a hotheaded jerk again and taken the responsibility of something without thinking for a second about the future consequences. Not that he regretted competing to be the one who is going to take care of Kise. No regrets for that. Ever.

The point was that, did he ever think that being the one to tell Kise about his family's death would change many things? The guys who had visited Kise after him told the others that all what Kise did was just… look toward the window, the one that had the view of the hospital yard. Not that Kise could see anything out there; his bed wasn't near the window, and even if it was, he couldn't sit in his bed and see the view. The guys said the blond never moved, never responded to what they asked him, never even cried. Just stared and stared, at just God knew what.

He had heard the guys when they were discussing about the possibility of Kise needing some time alone to digest the situation and the loss. But to think that Kagami himself was the one that started this thing with him, it made him fear even more…

Did Kagami ever think that telling Kise about the family death would make him hate him to no ends and never want to even see him again, let alone live with him?

Kagami deserved to be called _Baka_ gami. For not considering the future.

And now, it was the day. It was the freaking exact day when Kise was going to be dismissed from the hospital to… _Kagami's house._ Taiga's dad was abroad. But he had contacted him to let him know about the whole thing and to know if he was going to allow it to happen. He knew that he didn't need to do so in the first place though. When he had told the story to his dad, Kagami the father had felt so sorry and grief he decided to return from the States to meet the kid in person. But the son had told him that he didn't need to do that for now and what he needed right now was for him to talk to the hospital director and the people from Social Service over a video chat or whatever else and convince them that they were capable to take care of the blond. And the dad had immediately called his lawyer in Japan to make everything go as Taiga had explained. Through three days, Tiaga had been wondering if it was alright to not go visit the blond. But now he knew that if he wanted to look after him, his fear was going to get in his way. The people from Social Service didn't seem to accept the Kagami family to take care of Kise at first, since the father was mostly abroad and there was no mother. So it was only a seventeen year old kid taking care of another seventeen year old one. They said that it was pretty illogical and refused, but fortunately with Taiga's dad's help and the tests and interviews they had with Taiga finally made them satisfied enough to accept. That aside, Taiga had passed over that bastard Aomine before when he tried to rival him. This wasn't about basketball, so Kagami didn't care if Ahomine was stronger than him in the sport –Not that he would ever accept-. He was going to take Kise to his house and he did as he decided.

This was the day, in which Kagami needed to wash his fears over in order to take care of Kise. The fears of Kise seeing him, hating him, and pushing him back, because he probably knew Kagami's face as a reminder to what happened to his family… He took his hands off his face and grabbed his cell phone to check the time. Nearly two hours ago, he had come into the hospital with full confidence. But when he had done the last preparations to take Kise with him, just when he had walked through that cursed corridor which ended to the room Kise was sleeping in, his legs had started to feel shaky and giving in so he had to get away. And he had spent the remained time in the waiting hall, trying to calm himself. But it was enough and actually getting late. As he stood up, he saw Kuroko walking down the stairs and toward him. He turned fully toward the bluenette, knowing those blue orbs that were informing him of some news. Kuroko approached, a bit panting.

"Kagami-kun, it's time."

"Yeah… I know." Kagami sighed, averting his sight.

"Akashi-kun said he's got a car ready for you to take Kise-kun. But right now you need to go up since he wants to have some words with you."

"Alright,"

"And… Everyone is visiting him. Kise-kun needs to feel comfortable with you. So I think you must go visit him as well."

"Yeah yeah… got that." Kagami groaned. Kuroko nodded, that was supposed to mean he was leaving. And it was true, but there seemed to be something else in his eyes that the red head didn't understand.

"By the way…" The bluenette started. "Haven't you seen Aomine-kun around?"

' _Bull's eye.'_

"No," Kagami replied, observing how Kuroko's head dropped. "Hey, is everything alright?"

"…"

"Something up with the bastard?"

"…"

The tall teen sighed for the nth time in the day. He knew it was his fault. But he wasn't upset about it. If it was about the time Kuroko had bluntly uttered his support for Kagami rather than Aomine, he couldn't be the least sad. He was indeed thankful, because it had kind of helped the situation go better for him. But to know that how Ahomine was important for Kuroko and he himself cared for Kuroko as his closest friend, he felt bad for being the reason of Kuroko's current concern.

"Have you talked to him?"

"He… kind of… avoids me…" Kuroko quietly said. Kagami did not miss the pout in his Shadow's face.

"The hell! Is he a girl or somethin'?!" Even this couldn't lessen Kuroko's pout. Kagami sighed. Again.

"Look, just talk to him. He's not an idiot. I… don't know your reasons for what you did back then, but I'm thankful. And I know you never do things without valued reasons."

Kuroko looked up.

"I just changed my mind! That Ahomine is an idiot, but not too much to avoid your _reasons._ He's… your first light and… best friend, right? He's not going to be a freak _again_ when it comes to you,"

Kuroko's eyes widened.

"from what I've seen, he's not going to make the same mistakes as past, not _particularly_ with _you_."

Kuroko's lips splat.

"Kagami-kun…" Kagami's eyes caught sight of Kuroko's wide ones.

"W-what?!"

"Thank you…"

Heat started finding its way to the red head's face, fluttering him so much Kuroko could laugh. But the situation didn't let him do so.

"A-Ah! Nah! Never mind! Go get his ass up there before I take Kise!" But then the red head himself was the one who ran. Kuroko smiled. Genuinely.

' _Kise-kun is going to be surely alright with Kagami-kun…'_

The blue head walked toward the exit. If Aomine-kun wasn't around Kise-kun's room or in the waiting hall, he was definitely somewhere in the hospital yard. The bluenette walked out , searching among the people who were passing, entering or quitting the hospital. But Aomine-kun wasn't among them. He wondered where the tanned boy could be, and remembered the type of places he mostly liked. Somewhere… quiet,… and empty…

As he thought, he found himself switching his way and walking toward another area of the hospital yard where it seemed to be less crowded. At first, he started to get hopeless because from the first sight, the tanned guy didn't seem to be there as well. But Kuroko thanked his not-giving-up-yet spirit when he saw Aomine-kun somewhere deeper in that empty field of the backyard of the hospital. Aomine-kun was there… Lying on something like a bench, his forearm resting on his forehead and eyes, and his legs spread on the bench. He walked toward his friend and stopped a meter away. Aomine-kun was probably asleep, since that was the only thing he did whenever he found somewhere quiet and empty. Was it alright to wake him up? Wasn't it going to make him even angrier?

Kuroko started to get wrapped in his doubts and nervousness when something popped in his mind and he grabbed his cell phone…

 _To: Aomine-kun_

 _Aomine-kun, can we talk?_

Kuroko waited. Despite him thinking that Aomine-kun was asleep, the tanned guy's hand moved to his pocket to grab his phone when he heard the notification sound of a new message. Kuroko wasn't in the Light's sight, so he didn't move and just waited to see what will the tanned guy do. Aomine-kun's arm which was hiding his eyes did not move. He just read the message the way he was lying…

"Why bother textin' when you're already here, Tetsu?"

That startled Kuroko. His presence lacked. So just how had Aomine-kun sensed his presence when he was trying to be as inert and quiet as he could while that doubled his low presence?

"The cologne you recently wear is stupidly girly, you know?" Aomine-kun said, still in the same gesture.

So that was how he had sensed Kuroko's presence? And wait, that cologne was girly?! As if! It was nearly the same as the one that Midorima-kun wore! How could it be girly?! Kuroko mentally pouted.

Aomine-kun sat up, but still refused to look at him. He leaned his elbows on his thighs, interlocked his hands together and made that gesture of thinking Kuroko didn't like. Kuroko was still standing as far as he was, not knowing whether he was allowed to get any closer.

"Damn Tetsu why are you acting like I bite?!"

The bluenette looked up at his former light, still not knowing what to say or what to do.

' _That Ahomine is an idiot, but not too much to avoid your reasons…'_

That was an answer. The Shadow walked closer and stood right in front of his tanned friend.

"Aomine-kun,..."

Aomine looked up. Tetsu's head was dropped. But he seemed to be fidgeting to say something.

"I'm truly sorry!" Tetsu said, and bowed as deep as he could.

"W-What the hell Tetsu?! What is this for?!"

Tetsu said nothing, he just kept on with the posture.

"Stop it…" Aomine talked again, his head dropped as well. Tetsu finally stood straight. But his face wasn't expressionless as ever, it was full of something like… sorrow? The hell was up with Tetsu?!

For the passed few days, since when the battle happened between Kagami and himself, this has been something going on between the two. Like, Aomine had acted like Tetsu was a stranger, and Tetsu had acted like he feared Aomine. But non of them ever started to talk… until now. Aomine was regretful. He had acted stupidly and gave the right to Tetsu for not being the one to start talking. However, it had ended up with Tetsu trying to solve the situation any way.

"I'm the one that should apologize."

While saying that, Aomine was looking at his shoes, but it didn't mean that he missed how Tetsu got surprised. "I was being stupid and… you know… everything."

This time it was Aomine's turn to get surprised when Tetsu knelt in front of him. When their eyes met, the tanned guy couldn't read what he saw in the baby-blue eyes. Just that… they were calm. So calm it made his knotted eyebrows disentangled. He sighed.

"Can I explain now?"

"Huh?!" Heat rushed to his cheeks. He averted his eyes. Tetsu was a bastard who liked to watch people suffer the embarrassments he himself caused. Aomine made sure to pay him back later.

"Back then…" Tetsu started, but his head was dropped again. It wasn't fair, not when Tetsu had caught one of Aomine's most embarrassed sights by kneeling in front of him. Now he didn't have the right to hide his own face. The tanned boy's hand reached to move the Shadow's head the way he could see his face, but before his hand reached to the target Tetsu's head was back up, big blue eyes looking straight into his own eyes.

"When I said I was going to support Kagami-kun… I had a reason…"

The knot between Aomine's eyebrows returned.

"Kagami-kun was… mentioning the past. When… you weren't like now, like the first years of middle-school. I couldn't blame him. He was angry and… wasn't aware of it, nor did he understand you. So…"

Tetsu's head tilted to the side, Aomine's eyes seemed to be putting a great pressure on him.

"I… didn't want you to remember those days, because it wasn't entirely your fault. I didn't want you to feel guilty about it like how it was eating you up after the Winter Cup. I just… wanted it to finish there, without you or Kagami-kun being hurt. And that was the first thing I thought of that could stop both of you…

"I didn't mean to disqualify you or… anything like that. I just didn't want Kagami-kun to speak of something he didn't know. I didn't want him to insult you… hurt you more. But it seems that what I did just made everything worse with you. I'm… sorry…"

That was all… for him?

 _'Don't be ridiculous!'_

Aomine's eyes were widen. The pain in them made him realize this. But damn, was he just imagining them to get wet?

' _What are you, Tetsu?! After all those mean things I did to you since middle school… You still do stuff just for me?!'_

Through the layer that was blurring his sight, Aomine saw Tetsu's hand raising up and then he felt it on his nape, pulling him down, until he felt his forehead touching the soft fabric of Tetsu's t-shirt against it.

"That's right… Before, when you left Kise-kun's room, I wasn't with you. Kagami-kun cried here, it wouldn't be fair if you don't…"

…

Kagami ran. But after a few seconds, his pace reduced little by little. After all, he was running to where Kise was, and that meant that he needed to get ready for any reactions the blond was going to show. Kagami had just told him the news, what anyone else could possibly be doing instead of him. But he chose it to be himself. Because it was going to end up with Kise. So this was worth everything. Kise could probably show any kind of emotions, like, cry, scowl, scream and whatever like those just by seeing the first strings of Kagami's weird hair color, but Kagami wasn't going to back off at this moment. He had done the worst part and had told the blond about his family, so this wasn't something he couldn't handle.

With steady steps, shield chest and firm look, he walked up the stairs…

But… Wait a second… Why did he choose the stairs in the first place when there was an elevator for non-patience and staff he could use?! Kagami ran a hand on his face. This reminded him of when Shrek was going to save the princess on top of the tower, and was the beast nervous about how the woman was going to react when seeing a monster coming to save her?!...

' _At least I'm not a beast…'_

Before he could go any more of getting prepared, he was walking through the corridor that Kise's room was in. And then he saw a couple of colorful heads, which meant the GoM weren't in the blond's room. Fuck… Everything was just pushing him to Kise's door. As he walked closer seeing Aomine nowhere around, Akashi noticed his arrival and turned to face him. Honestly, Kagami was happy to face Akashi this time. It was way better than the pressure of visiting Kise. Akashi splat form others and before Kagami could get any closer, Akashi was standing in front of him, making a barrier.

"Kagami Taiga."

Kagami did not flinch, nor did he tense. He had been around the captain for the last week and was now used to being called by him like that. Also, Kise and meeting him was on top of all the thoughts in his head. So he simply stood against the captain, and waited to hear what Kuroko had told him the Rakuzan captain wanted to say.

"I believe you are now intending to visit Ryouta,"

"I was, before you popped up." The taller dag his hands in his pockets.

"I am not going to stop you, but, there are things I want you to know after you met him and before taking him with you."

Kagami just nodded, and then Akashi smoothly slipped aside from his way. The door to Kise's room now seemed very close. But Kagami had decided and he had no doubts left. From now on, he was going to face Kise in anytime and anywhere he walked in his house. So it was time for him to make things go easier between them.

He walked and passed the GoM and the Kaijou members, then stopped in front of the door. He didn't want to see Kise lying on his bed through that window, because he knew it would just discourage him. He grabbed the knob, and entered the room.

' _I fucked up! Forgot to knock!'_

Kagami observed the figure on the bed. Kise's body didn't seem as tensed as before, meant that his body had healed with a great speed. That was good;

 _However,_

However… Kise made no move since he had entered the room. Kagami couldn't see his face because he was staring at something at the window toward the hospital yard, though could he see anything from the distance his bed had from the window?

' _Just as what others has described…'_ Kagami thought _._

He closed the door behind him, but didn't walk toward the bed. He waited a bit longer but…Kise still made no move. Kagami now started walking, but he still kept mute and quiet. The only injuries Kise now had were his broken left arm, the scars on his arms and face –And probably his body since he was wearing a shirt and Kagami couldn't say–, and… his disability to walk.

' _That one's going to disappear soon as well…'_ Kagami wondered.

"Oi," Was all Kagami could say. But much to his surprise, Kise tensed, and that made Kagami tense up too. But that was all, and Kise made no more moves. Was his voice too loud it feared the blond? Did he say anything mean? Wait he hadn't even said anything yet! Kagami mentally slapped himself.

"You, Kise brat. I'm talking to you." He tried a lower voice. But Kise still made no reactions.

Kagami found himself in desperation. He didn't know what he had to do next.

"Hey, sorry…" He dropped his head. He wanted to take care of Kise no matter what. But maybe this wasn't a good idea in the first place. If he was too weak to be able to communicate with an injured Kise, how was he even going to make him go through the pain in his heart? What was his use when he made Kise hopeless?

His thoughts stopped for a second as he heard the short and low sound of something rustling against the sheets. He tilted his head up,…

…to meet with Kise's deadpan eyes.

For a second, Kagami thought he saw Kise's eyebrows twitch, but he wasn't sure if he saw it because Kise's head returned to the same position, his eyes staring out of the window. It encouraged him a bit, like, it was said that the blond made no reactions no matter what anyone who visited him did. Kagami dared and walked closer so then he was now standing near the bed, his hand fidgeting near Kise's broken arm. He raised his hand very slowly, and landed it on the blond's head. There was no reason for him to do that, but there was always this… feeling sparking in his hand and heart whenever Kise was around. It was kind of like the time Kagami had taken the first step toward taking care of the Kaijou ace. But last time, Kise's eyes were close and he leaned in the touch. This time, the blond just closed his eyes. His expression was still empty and soulless.

"We'll be going soon, get ready."

With a last ruffle to the blond locks, the red head returned to see Kuroko and… Aomine standing in front of the window. Kuroko was looking at him, his face full of satisfaction and pride. Kagami averted his eyes, embarrassment rising up as well as the heat in his face.

But then suddenly out of blue, Akashi was standing beside them. And the smirk on his face was something pissing off Kagami to the verge of breaking the glass window with a punch in his face.

 _'Fuck you Akashi! And fuck what you wanna tell me!'_

* * *

 **A/N: Hello guys! I hope this chapter had made up for the previous saddening ones. I deeply apologize to people who got bothered by the last few chapters! And am very sorry for the like-always late update!**

 **As you have seen this story contains mistakes. I need a beta reader for this work so to any of you who can help me with it, please PM me and let me know!**

 **Please accept my sincerest thanks:**

 **snow . x . fairy, AlexCub, , TheOtakuMageofAwesomeness, StarlightKat, , Sayounara Watashi, Victorious-Mind, Prettylittlelier, guests and all the other kind guys who honored me with their reviews!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Update time: 10:00 9/24**

 **A/N: Hello guys! Well like always the first thing I have to say is apologies for the damn lat update! But there's one more thing I want to apologize for this time, and it's that the updates are going to be even slower because the university courses have started and I'm not sure I'll even get to touch my laptop! So please give me some hope and light by your supports TT_TT I need your support as much as Kise-kun needs support!**

 **I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter. And please don't forget to let me know if you liked it or if it's a shame of a writer to have written such an awful thing :/**

 **Until the next chapter!**

* * *

His hand felt cold. The hand he had touched those straight but messy locks with. He shoved it in his pocket, heaving a long sigh. Kagami Taiga wasn't known as someone to think a lot, sight a lot and keep his words for himself a lot. But he had changed for some reason he didn't quit understand. Almost ten days ago, maybe less, he had found out about Kise being in hospital. But the tiredness he felt was like he had worked mentally and physically for a decade. He had seen that the other guys had changed as well, but he wasn't sure if they felt the same amount of tiredness as him.

Kise had finally shown reaction, and to _him_. Something that made him want to bear more of this tiredness. But it also made him nervous. Because he didn't know if this was going to happen again or it had been just a simple reaction because maybe Kise didn't expect to see him of all? Anyway, that he had to find some ways or words that made Kise make more and better reactions was something that he had come to conclude. And also the others specially Akashi had told him.

Then, when he had exited Kise's room, he knew that the redhead captain was waiting for him to talk. What he had said to Kagami back then wasn't beyond expectation, but it was still full of threats and blackmails like always. This time, Kagami could understand. Because Kise was Akashi and his gang's precious friend. Kagami had qualified to take care of him. Still, this didn't mean that unwanted things weren't going to happen and he knew that all Akashi meant to say was _'Take your eyes off him and you'll be dead'_. It was all his worries for the blond and the way he was going to be taken care of. But well… He was saying it in his own way.

Kagami understood it when Aomine looked at him like _he_ was the one to win a World Cup in their little yet big rivalry friendship. He knew how Aomine wanted to make up things for his past, but looking after someone when the blue head couldn't even cook for himself wasn't a good way for it. He knew that he had acted cruelly, but he couldn't help it. The way he couldn't rest if Kise wasn't somewhere he couldn't see and specially with his situation, the way he had heard Kise in his head moaning and begging for help, he couldn't help but make sure to be the one who takes him.

He understood when Kuroko hardened his look on him, like he was a student taking an exam and the blue head was a strict teacher. He could swear there was something behind that expression that Kuroko refused to say aloud for some reason. Something like _'I believe in you, Kagami-kun. But will you be fine?'_.

Even that Tsundere, Midorima kept readjusting his glasses whenever his eyes met Kagami's, and then looked at somewhere else. He understood that Midorima was all doubtful when it came to him.

But why on earth were they all acting so tough around him?!

At least there was Murasakibara, Momoi and Kaijou.

Momoi had told him that she could help him with stuff at home, and Murasakibra had given him a great amount of his snacks when Akashi was done threatening him. And Kaijoi senpais including Kasamatsu always encouraged him and told him he could count on them whenever he needed help. The generation of Miracles could also trust him, so why were they all being too rough on him?

The nurses had finally finished helping the blond sit up, making sure he was very carefully sat on the wheelchair and if his place was comfortable enough. None of the GoM was seen around or in Kise's room and it was strange. But at least some of the Kaijou members were there to give their supports. Kagami went back in, and the nurses let him help like doing the last things with his clothes and picking up a small bag which contained some remained stuff from the accident. Even the nurses weren't happy. Kise was a model. Since the accident had happened there were always a noticeable number of interviewers or journalists who wanted to haunt Kise in his current situation. But thanks to Akashi's helpful guardians that were positioned around the entrances and in the hospital non could ever reach to Kise or any doctors who were in charge of him. There were many people who felt sorry for the blond model, including the nurses. Probably some of them even liked him. But seeing him in that situation, without his usual shining smiles, without his liveliness, it was painful even for them. It was the doctor's turn to give Kagami some lecture about what type of diet was better for the blond, what kind of light exercises he had to do to make his body movements better and that he had to take two physiotherapy sessions each week which Kagami had to take him.

"Akashi sama ordered us to let you know that he's got a car ready for you to leave safely." One of the nurses said. Kagami nodded, and with a smooth move turned on his heels and knelt in front of the chair Kise was sitting on. What was he supposed to say exactly?...

He put one hand on Kise's, the one that was resting on the armrest.

"You ready, mate?"

What had he expected?… Of course Kise was showing no reaction. It was very difficult, but he let his usual grin form on his lips…

At least that made Kise take his eyes from the window and look at him for a few seconds. Kise's eyes were like before, tired and deadpan. But Kagami was kind of hopeful. Because he had found the second way he could get a reaction from the blond. The first one was his hand, and the second one was his smile.

Satisfied, he stood up and walked behind the wheelchair. The nurses were quiet, as well as the doc. And the only thing they did when Kagami pushed the wheelchair out of the room was to give them light bows as convoy.

A nurse was waiting for them out of the room and fallowed them through the corridor, in the elevator and till the car to make sure Kise was going to safely get in the car and that there was not much pressure on his spine, so they decided that it was better for him to lay down. Kagami carefully wrapped his arms around Kise's waist to lift him, and with the nurse guiding and helping they finally got to have Kise lied and spread on the seat. The red head then went to the other side of the seat and sat the way his legs played the role of a pillow for Kise's head. But seriously, the car was strangely big and comfy, and the seat was even more comfortable than Kagami's mattress. The nurse tried to make Kise's place more stable and folded his legs carefully on the seat. After a while, the car finally started moving and soon they couldn't see the area of the hospital anymore.

Kagami looked down. Kise's was looking at the window again, quiet and mysterious.

"Hey," Kagami wasn't expecting any reactions. So he just went on.

"Why don't you rest till we arrive there?"

Kise blinked, but did nothing else. The red head slowly placed his large hand on Kise's forehead, the way a part of it covered his eyes as well. He felt no resistance, no more blinks. When he took his hand away he found Kise's eyes closed, his lids calm… The brat was asleep.

…

Feeling something poking his shoulder and then his cheek, consciousness very slowly returned to him. He fought the heaviness of his lids and tried to open his eyes. He had no idea of how much it had passed since… the warmth of Kagami-cchi's hand made him close them. What was he supposed to expect before his eyes now, he didn't know. So he opened them to know.

This had started to feel routine and normal for him, not knowing what was in the world behind his close eyes, and opening them carefully with much fear from having the very dim light of hope of his, crushed and disappeared. That light was dim, it wasn't enough to make him talk or move his limbs. But he needed even that little amount of hope to keep breathing and opening his eyes for more time. The first time he had opened his eyes with that feeling of… fear and hesitation, there were Kuroko-cchi and Kasamatsu senpai. He had thanked God whole heartedly for seeing people who he knew at a time that he needed it the most. But it hadn't lasted much long, since he was extremely weak because of the accident and the amount of blood he had lost. And he had fallen in unconsciousness… But the second time… There were his fears coming true. When he had opened his eyes, loneliness was the only one who greeted him. The third time was the same, but within the fourth time he met the nurses. Back then, he wasn't much of a success in talking, but he had asked the nurses about his family. Despite that, when he got that the same nurses never came to check him, he found that something must have been wrong.

Then there came the fifth time. And it took Kagami-cchi, Aomine-cchi and Kasamatsu senpai with itself, as well as the big news of his family's… End _._ Mom's, dad's, nee-san and nee-chan's… _death._

This had been the end. Nothing could be more frightening. Even when he had heard Akashi-cchi's voice, Kuroko-cchi's or his other former or current teammates' after the fifth time in which he had heard _Kagami-cchi's_ calling his name. Everything was stupid after that tone of _'I'm sorry, Kise…'_ Kagami-cchi used that day.

But still, there was the same fear every time he wanted to open his eyes. Did he even have any more things to lose? So what the heck was with this feeling not leaving him alone?

"You're a heavy sleeper, you know?"

Kagami-cchi's ridiculous face appeared in front of him as he opened his eyes. At least it wasn't as scary as the other things he had imagined.

"We're there. I need you to help me and move a bit so I can take you out of the car."

Move? How was he supposed to? Kagami-cchi was an idiot.

He said nothing, just stared at the red head and in no time, the big guy started talking again.

"Well, I guess you can't help."

With that, Kagami carefully slipped his fingers under Kise's head and lifted it a bit from his hip to free himself and get out of the car. In a second, the red head was out of the car helping Kise to sit up. The driver was now on the other door of the car which Kise realized was open, helping and holding the now sitting blond till Kagami reached to the driver's side. As gentle and careful as the first time, Kagami-cchi slipped his arms under the blond's, paying more attention to the position of his broken arm, and lifted him to place him in the wheelchair that the driver had it ready just a few inches away from the seat. Kise clutched Kagami-cchi's left shoulder with his right hand till he felt the hardness and coldness of the chair under him. He let go as Kagami-cchi pulled back to make sure his legs were in the safe place. It felt strange that he still couldn't use his legs. Akashi-cchi had told him that he will have minor problems with moving them but,… he couldn't move them even a bit. What a shame to have the others carry the limbs that were supposed to carry him around…

Back then in the hospital, everyone had said their goodbyes to the blond and wished him health, he hadn't responded. Well he didn't know what to respond. He didn't know the meaning of the not really genuine smiles that everyone had on their faces. But there was one strange thing and it was that he saw no one, his middle school or high school buddies around when Kagami-cchi roled the wheelchair out of the room, not even when they left the hospital. And now Kagami-cchi was strangely silent. And strangely the usual grin wasn't on his face. The driver didn't leave, and it was strange. Everything looked strange. But Kagami-cchi seemed to feel the strange atmosphere since his eyes were glowing suspiciously. He pushed the wheelchair toward the entrance of the apartment, and used the elevator to take them to the right floor. Seirin's ace paused before slipping his hand in his pocket to take the key out.

"Oi… Am I the only one that feels something's wro-"

Before he could finish his last word, the door of his flat suddenly opened, revealing a girl with pink hair behind it.

"Ki-chan!" The girl jumped forward, crouching and circling her arms around the blond's neck, leaving Kagami in shock and terror.

' _Momo-cchi?... What is she doing at Kagami-cchi's-…'_

"What the…!" For a second, anger and rage was visible not only in the red head's face, but also his posture. But in the next second, it seemed to die and subside in him. And in the next one, he was looking down. Since Momo-cchi was hugging his neck, his head was tilted back a bit, and so Kagami-cchi's eyes met his as the guy looked down. His red orbs seemed to be searching for something in his honey ones, but not long after he took his eyes away. Was it hopelessness he just saw in those red eyes just before the moved away?...

"Oi! Careful, Satsuki!"

Hearing that, Kagami-cchi looked inside the house, the same anger returning to him incredibly fast by what he saw. He barged in completely forgetting about the blond that was being choked by the girl. Kise couldn't see what was going on in the house. But he heard no more sounds for a few more seconds…

"THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOIN' AT MY PLACE?!" It startled both him and Momo-cchi. The girl leaned back, scratching her head with a finger.

"Tehe! I guess we should've told Kagamin about our plan! Anyway, let's get in, Ki-chan!"

The girl skipped behind the chair and pushed it inside. Slowly, the scene that had made Kagami-cchi so angry revealed in front of them…

There were a few boxes left here and there around the room -living room as it seemed-. Akashi-cchi was leaning comfortably on a sofa -the only sofa in the room anyway-, sipping on a cup of tea in his hands. Midorima-cchi was standing a bit further, wiping the lenses of his glasses. Aomine-cchi was leaning to the counter of the kitchen, spinning a basketball on his finger -probably Kagami-cchi's-.

"Hello to you to, Kagami-kun." Kuroko-cchi popped up from who knows where beside Kagami-cchi.

"DAAH! NOT YOU TOO, KUROKO!"

And just then, a purple head peaked out of a door in the short corridor in front of his sight…

"Damn Kaga-chin, you've run out of toilet paper."

"GOD JUST WHY!" Kagami-cchi yelled again, standing like a frog in front of the scene with his arms raising and falling angrily.

"SHUT UP BAKAGAMI! YOU'LL THANK US WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT WE'VE DONE!"

"AS IF!"

"Shut the hell up and stop shouting, both of you!"

Kise's head turned to find the owner of the shouting voice this time. To his surprise, it was Kasamatsu senpai's. Kasamatsu-senpai and Muriyama-senpai were also there standing near the window. Oh yeah, the _window_ … Good thing he finally found it. Things had started to make his lungs go tight and painful again. A few more minutes and he would have probably started coughing and getting all choked. Kise took in a deep breath. He didn't care where he was going to be taken care of. He just wanted windows, big, _shiny_ windows… Kagami-cchi's house seemed to have them.

…

At first, he regretted shouting as the third person. Because he saw how suddenly Kise's head turned to where he was standing. Could it be that he had startled the blond? But the two idiots' were definitely shouting louder, it was probably a surprise for Kise to meet his senpai there.

Kise's was still again. His eyes were staring at him, but wait… He looked behind where he was standing, and there he found the source of Kise' interest. The ace wasn't looking at him, but the large windows that were introducing the late morning light of the sun to the whole room. There wasn't much furniture decorated in the room, so the light seemed to be reflected from any angle and surface it kissed. It was strange how a house could be designed to be bathed by light like this. The black haired guy then looked at the ace again. Was it the sun in the sky shining, or was _Kise_ the one shining?... Maybe it was that Kise was sucking the rays of light, it seemed that every single part of him was glowing. His blond hair, his pale face and hands, his honey orbs… It was amazing. So amazing Kasamatsu couldn't take his eyes away. Kise seemed to be magnetizing the light. All Kasamtsu thought was ok to do was to move away from Kise's source of intere-… no, _energy…_

"But how did you even get the key to my house?!" That Bakagami started again. Aomine slid his head toward the guy who had the key.

"Kuroko?! But I don't remember giving the key to you!"

"Yeah! Tetsu's got the keys to my and Kise's place too even though we never gave him one! Seriously Tetsu, it's creepy!" Aomine looks at Tetsu, goosebumps forming along his spine.

"You need to thank me anyway, Aomine-kun. We couldn't take Kise-kun's stuff from his place or take them to Kagami-kun's place if I didn't have the keys."

That finally hit Kagami's realization spot and made his eyes go wide.

"You guys took Kise's stuff here?!"

Akashi was probably tired with so much sound and mess if not, he would never interfere. He placed his mug on the table stand in front of the sofa, stood up and turned to the poor Kagami, probably to evaporate him. Aomine thanked God for giving Kagami a louder voice than him or else he was going to be the Akashi's second target now.

"Obviously if Ryouta is going to stay here he needs his things from his house and more obviously you weren't smart enough to take care of that. So now that the others have covered for your sloth and negligence be thankful and make them something to eat."

"Yeah! Bakagami!" Aomine smirked.

"WHY YOU-…" Kagami finally shut his big mouth, sighed and made his way toward the kitchen. Akashi could be damn lovely at times like this because Aomine's stomach was starting to complain keenly and he really needed to satisfy it.

Everyone seemed to be tired, excluding that bastard Akashi who just sat on the coach and sipped his fucked mug the whole time, and Tetsu who was dismissed from moving the heavy boxes by the same bastard Akashi.

Murasakibara finally got out of the damn toilet, walked toward the room and collapsed on the ground like a falling mountain of snow.

"Mou… I'm tired." He complained and closed his eyes, arms and legs sprawled. This guy was damn huge because moving toward the toilet with him lying on the ground like that was really difficult. But Aomine needed to get some room. So he moved his feet and passed the huge guy on the ground, oh how he loved to jump on the annoying guy and make him scream his lungs out…

"Oi Kagami, I'm using your toilet." He announced while opening the door.

"Help yourself!" Kagami's angry voice could be heard even from the kitchen.

He closed the door behind and leaned back to the door. He didn't want to admit but… If he hadn't felt the same feeling before, his legs had probably given in till now even before he could make it to the toilet. But it wasn't something new, he had felt like this since the first time he saw Kise like that in the hospital. The damn point was that he couldn't get used to it. At first he started feeling better when Kuroko had told them how Kise looked at him with eyes that contained life and question the first time he opened his eyes after the accident. But… Was it Kise he just saw?... It couldn't be. The Kise he knew was miles far away and different from the one he was seeing now. He shut his eyes and sheltered his face under his palms to ease the headache that was coming up. Seriously, believing how Kise's eyes reminded him of his dead grandmother was beyond any explanation. The tanned guy stood straight and started the water. As he washed his face, the coldness of the water made his mind get out of its wild mood and calm a bit. But it was still so much for him to take that his hand stopped on his mouth while running along is face and he had to immediately grab something to avoid falling. What the hell… Why on earth!

Everything was just so fine… going so happy-go-lucky again like how it was back then at middle school, why did something like this had to happen to them?

Remembering Kise's eyes scared him. He had never seen those eyes in anyone's face. The eyes were beautiful, so gold. But there was some kind of shadow of a _dead_ person in them, something like emptiness and endlessness which made you feel lost and alone a dark, starless galaxy. It was so scary that made a shiver run down the blue head ace's spine. Since when had this always cheerful fucking noisy touchy-feely had turned into such a meaningless existence?...

Aomine mentally slapped himself. He slapped himself again internally. He really wanted to slam his head into the mirror in front of him because _Fuck!_ Did he just think of Kise as a…

No, no… No! The damn brat had gotten like a piece of ice, he didn't make any reactions, his eyes were deadpan… Yes to all of them! But it didn't mean Kise had turned to an soulless vessel! Not as long as he was alive. Not as long as he opened his eyes. And Not as long as Aomine was there, or Tetsu, the Bakagami, Kaijou guys, Akashi, even that four-eyes Midorima or the titan Murasakibara… They were all there to help Kise's soul get healed…

…

It took not so long until the Kagami Taiga guy made something for everyone to eat. But it strangely took Daiki so long till he finally let go of whatever he was stuck to in the restroom. But he seemed less tensed than when he saw Ryouta. The guys had already moved most of the things in the Kagami residency's spare room and were sitting around the table stand waiting for their food to arrive, except Tetsuya that was helping to make the dishes. Momoi san had excused herself and asked Kagami Taiga if she could use one of the rooms to calm down and get a hold of herself. And Ryouta was still there… Sitting on the wheelchair silently and staring at the window. Kasamatsu san and Muriyama san seemed to be announcing short and unneeded sentences to the blond just to make sure he wasn't sank in his _source of interest_ as the captain of Kaijou had named it. Everything seemed so common, despite the fact that nothing was common.

Akashi stood up from the couch and left the cup on the stand. He walked toward the windows, making the senpais retreat and let the newcomer get a room with their ace. After all, they had finally understood that the only ones who knew the Generation of Miracles best, were the Generation of Miracles themselves.

Akashi stood behind the wheelchair and pushed it forward carefully to not to fear Ryouta. But as he had expected, Ryouta did nothing. The red head didn't care about the questioning stares behind him, just went to open the door to the balcony and then returned to push the chair out into it.

A soft breeze passed, moving both crimson and blond locks playfully. It reminded Akashi of the first day after the accident. How it was hard for him to encounter whatever that had happened all of a sudden, and the great changes it had caused, and… his weakness. It felt like a long time ago, while it was just a week ago or so. If this scenery had been happening a month ago, many things were going to be different; Like Ryouta's broken hand, or his bandaged head. With Ryouta's head moving and tilting backward, Akashi's attention returned to the present, observing the blond and his acts and movements carefully. Ryouta closed his eyes, and his breathing got even. It was like he was thinking of something, or maybe… _remembering_ something?...

…

Breezes…

" _Nee-chan~! Mou nee-chan! I can't run that fast! Please wait for me!" The very, very little boy screamed, feeling nervous about being left behind. The girl running in front of him with the long hair of her dancing along with the soft cool breeze of an autumn morning, stopped, flashed a warm smile and offered her hand. The little boy caught it immediately, panting but feeling relieved._

" _It's alright, Ryouta. We don't need to run anymore if it bothers you." The girl patted the very little boy's head._

" _We don't?"_

" _Right," The girl made another bright smile. "Nee-chan will wait for you as long as you want!"_

Didn't you promise to wait for me, nee-chan?... I won't forgive you for breaking it…

…

Small ticklish warm droplets rolled down from the corner of his eyes along his jaw. He opened his eyes, and looked at the view of the always busy and crowded Tokyo from the flat.

"Breezes…"

His head rose a bit so the sight of the clear and light blue sky embraced his honeyed eyes.

"… Bring… memories…"

As the words slipped out of Kise's pale lips, Akashi felt his widen eyes burning and getting wet.

Yeah…

' _Breezes definitely bring memories with them, Ruota…'_


End file.
